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MAGNETISM 



POTENCY AND ACTION 



WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW 



COSMOGRAPHY 



AND A NEW 



CELESTIAL GEOGRAPHY 



BY GEORGE W. HOLLEY 

AUTHOR OF " NIAGARA, ITS HISTORY AND GEOLOGY.' 1 








BOSTON : 

ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Copley Square 



Copyrighted, 1894, 
By GEORGE W. HOLLEY. 

All rights reserved. 



Arena Press. 







<\* 



PREFACE. 



For many years the writer of the following 
pages has been much interested in, given much 
thought to, and made- sundry notes on the subjects 
of which they treat. Not, however, until his re- 
moval to Ithaca, in 1882, where he could avail him- 
self of the facilities for further study and ex- 
periment afforded by Cornell University, has he 
been able to make a systematic attempt to formu- 
late his ideas and conclusions. 

Still he has been obliged to quote some author- 
ities at second hand, while some he wished to con- 
sult he could not procure. He has also been 
obliged to omit some experiments he would have 
been glad to perform. A slight fire in his room 
partially destroyed some of his notes, the result of 
which is that some passages appear in quotation 
marks for which his memory does not enable him 
to quote the authorities. 

The reader will observe that much consideration 
has been given to the subject of magnetism, a form 
of energy whose universal action, the various and 



2 PREFACE. 

numerous ways in which it is manifested, the sub- 
tle influences which it exerts and exhibits in dif- 
ferent conditions have not, as the writer believes, 
been accorded the importance they deserve. Ex- 
cept in its most striking manifestations in connec- 
tion with electricity — electro-magnetism — and in 
animal magnetism it has not been fully investi- 
gated. In its finer and more subtle form as man- 
ifested in animal and vegetable life, especially in 
the minutest bodies, it seems to have been still less 
studied. Those forms of energy, the universality, 
pervasiveness and constancy of their action, it is 
one object of the writer to set forth and demon- 
strate. The same form of energy that swings the 
stars in their well-ordered courses forever wings 
the flight of the tiniest moth that perishes in a 
day. 

The facts and observations concerning the influ- 
ences that prompt the action of animals, kine, dogs, 
birds and insects, the multifarious forms and con- 
ditions of animal and vegetable life, and the per- 
sistence of the life force are chiefly new so far as 
shown by the authorities we have consulted in the 
excellent reference libraries of Cornell University 
and Columbia College. The field is wide and fer- 
tile and we have entered into details that would 
be irrelevant except that they elucidate the varied 
forms of magnetic energy. 

Some of our readers may prefer to consider elec- 
tricity rather than magnetism to be the most effi- 



PREFACE. 3 

cient of the natural forces. We have given our 
reasons for preferring the latter. Our views con- 
cerning magnetism will be held to be entirely un- 
tenable by those who believe, it to be " only elec- 
tricity in rotation " and that electricity is not a 
" form of energy." After the writer had finished 
his notes on the properties of magnetism he saw 
for the first time Dr. Hodge's " Modern Elec- 
tricity " and was gratified to find that some of his 
(the writer's) views and suggestions are fortified 
by so acute a thinker and so vigorous a writer. 
He was also gratified to note the just tribute of- 
fered by Dr. Hodge to the memory of the late Prof. 
Joseph Henry, the first discoverer of Telegraphy. 

If the writer has seemed to express himself with 
undue earnestness and confidence in some portions 
of his work, he begs the reader to believe that it 
has been in no spirit of dogmatism. Further ob- 
servations and experiments with improved instru- 
ments and under favorable conditions may tend to 
prove the truth of our main hypothesis. If we 
have presented any new truth, or any new fact or 
suggestion of permanent value that may help other 
students to take other onward and upward steps in 
this sublime field of investigation, we shall be sat- 
isfied. The labor has been one of ever increasing 
love, admiration, and adoration. 

Ithaca, N. Y., July 18th, 1891. 



Explanation. 

The reader will note that the author, in treating of " matter " in several por- 
tions of the work, has described it in different terms, not contradictory but dis- 
connected. Instead of rearranging them in order to present a more condensed 
and logical conclusion, he decided to leave them, with this explanation, as they 
were copied from his original notes. 

Errata,. 

which the reader will please correct before reading the book. 
Page 7, second line from bottom, read " widest " for " wildest." 
Page 65, first line, read "an " for "and." 
Page 69, sixth line from top, between the words "beings" and " that " insert the 

words "permits us to suppose." 
Page 72, attach asterisks (*) to the numerals IV, I, II, III. 
Page 89, at end of first paragraph, omit the quotation marks. 
Page 128, twelfth line from top, read " rhythmic " for " rhythmatic." 
Page 171, second line from top, read " pairs " for "pair." 
Page 183, seventh line from top, read "a" for "the." 
Page 201, seventeenth line from top, read "intense " for "immense." 
Page 224, third line in first stanza of poem, read " starry " for " stony." 
Page 226, third line in ninth stanza, read " upbore " for "implore." 
Page 277, the first two lines of the last paragraph should read as follows : 

" The hyperbolas that revolve about their principal axes generate a hyper- 

boloid of two nappes." 



MAGNETISM. 



Subject Proposed. — Object to be Attained. 

Since Sir Isaac Newton's announcement and ex- 
position of the laws of gravitation, so called, and 
their application to all matter, but more especially 
to the stars and planets and all other celestial bodies, 
no other subject, probably, has so fully occupied 
and exercised the minds of investigators of natural 
phenomena. This is especially true in regard to 
the stellar systems, and what may be called the 
Geography of the Heavens. The profound and 
intensely interesting investigations of Swedenborg, 
the Herschels, Laplace, Kant, Struve, Father 
Secchi and others, large as is the store of knowl- 
edge they have supplied, still leave much to be 
learned. 

The facts concerning the stars, suns, planets, 

nebulae and other celestial bodies considered as 

things, as material bodies moving in space, their 

5 



6 SUBJECT PROPOSED. 

elements, motions, periods, their mass, volume and 
weight, their relations to and influence on each 
other, have been more or less fully and satis- 
factorily ascertained and described. But the 
system under which the whole mass, the grand 
aggregation of the celestial bodies is arranged, 
their common centre, if they have one, their pres- 
ent and future positions, the probable or possible 
changes to which they may be subjected and the 
probable or possible periods of their existence, are 
still undetermined. 

The object of this memoir is to consider the 
present state of our knowledge on the subject, 
to glance at the different theories of the stellar 
cosmography, and then, after classifying and collat- 
ing such truths and facts as observation — which is 
a mental act, — experiment — which is a physical 
one, — and experience — which is the knowledge 
gained by experiment — have supplied us, to con- 
sider what further progress may be possible in our 
explorations of this most extensive and sublimest 
field of human knowledge. 

From Prof. Newcomb's lucid and admirable 
work " Popular Astronomy " we quote a striking 
paragraph which will more fully suggest the 
range and scope of our design. It is as follows : 
" The widest question which the study of the 
stars presents u to us may be approached in this 
way : We have seen in our system of sun, planets, 
and satellites, a very orderly and beautiful struct- 



OBJECT TO BE ATTAINED. 7 

ure, every body being kept in its own orbit through 
endless revolutions by a constant balancing of 
gravitating and centrifugal forces. Do the millions 
of suns and clusters scattered through space and 
brought into view by the telescope, constitute a 
greater sj^stem of equally orderly structures ? and 
if so, what is that structure ? If we measure the 
importance of a question, not by its relations to 
our interests and our welfare, but by the intrinsic 
greatness of the subject to which it relates, then 
we must regard this question as one of the noblest 
with which the human mind has ever been 
occupied. In piercing the mystery of the solar 
system, and showing that the earth on which we 
dwell was only one of the smaller of eight planets 
which move around the sun, we made a great step 
in the way of enlarging our ideas of the immensity 
of creation and of the comparative insignificance of 
our sublunary interests. But when, on extending 
our view, we find our sun to be but one out of 
unnumbered millions, we see that our whole 
system is but an insignificant part of creation, and 
that we have an immensely greater fabric to study. 
When we have bound all the stars, nebulae and 
clusters which our telescopes reveal into a single 
system, and shown in what manner each stands 
related to all the others, we shall have solved the 
problem of the material universe considered, not 
in its details but in its wildest scope." 

While most profoundly impressed with the 



8 OBJECT TO BE ATTAINED. 

magnitude of our task we may say, varying and 
extending slightly the phrase of Bacon, that " if 
we shall succeed in effecting anything to the pur- 
pose, what led us to it was a true and genuine 
humiliation of mind " and a sincere desire to some- 
what enlarge the boundaries of human knowledge 
and manifest forth the Divine Glory. 



SPACE, MATTER AND TIME. 



II. 

Space, Matter and Time. 

Before considering the stellar systems and 
more particularly the planetary system of which 
our sun is the centre, it will be profitable to con- 
sider some preliminary and most important ques- 
tions which stand in direct and most intimate 
relation to the whole subject. They relate to 
Space, Matter and Time. It is not proposed to 
consider the abstruse metaphysical nor the elabo- 
rate physical definitions of these elements, but 
merely to define them in the simplest terms that 
will enable the general reader to understand their 
value. While we have many speculations and 
suggestions concerning them, we have no succinct, 
comprehensive and satisfactory definition of either. 
Still we know their functions, their uses, and dis- 
tinguishing characteristics. Space is the medium 
which contains all Matter and in which all forces 
are developed and manifested. It can be bounded 
only by itself, and, since any limit whatever must 
be contained within another limit, it follows inevi- 
tably that it has no limit. 



10 SPACE, MATTER AND TIME. 

Matter is an accretion, larger or smaller, of 
atoms or molecules that exist in a gaseous, liquid 
or solid state. It cannot exist without Space. It 
can have no extension or motion* without Time. 
The swing of a pendulum records a second of 
time ; it also passes, simultaneously, through a 
second of arc in space, and by friction at the pivot 
of the pendulum-rod a molecule of matter is dis- 
sipated. 

Matter may fill all space, or, in isolated portions, 
it may fill different parts of space. It may exist 
under an infinite variety of conditions and forms, 
and consequently may be changed, transformed 
and transmuted, but can never be destroyed. It 
may have an infinite number of deaths, it must 
have an equal number of resurrections. 

It is interesting to note one of the earliest ex- 
pressions of this idea of the indestructibility of 
matter. Marcus Aurelius in Meditation V. 13, 
writes : " I am composed of the formal and the 
material ; and neither of them will perish into non- 
existence, as neither of them came into existence 
out of non-existence. Every part of me then will 
be reduced by change into some part of the uni- 
verse, and that again will change into another 
part of the universe, and so on forever." Again, 
in Med. VI. 15, " Some things are hurrying into 
existence and others are hurrying out of it ; and 
of that that is coming into existence part is already 
extinguished. Motions and changes are forever 



SPACE, MATTEB AND TIME. 11 

renewing the world, just as the uninterrupted 
course of time is always renewing the infinite 
duration of ages." 

Again, in Med. IX. 28, " Soon will the earth 
cover all : then the earth too will change, and the 
things also which result from change will continue 
to change forever, and these again forever." 

Time is the element — Bacon and Kant called 
time and space " forms" — which marks the growth, 
development, continuance, change or decay of all 
things and of all forms and conditions of life, or- 
ganic or inorganic. In particulars it is limited-; in 
the concrete it is limitless. Strato of Lampsacus 
wished time to be called the " measure of move- 
ment and rest." Aristotle called it the " measure 
of duration." Newton would make " duration 
another name for absolute time." Condensing 
these suggestions we may say that Time is the 
measure of motion and rest. The motion of a point 
in space generates a line ; the motion of a line in 
the direction of its greatest dimension generates a 
plane ; the motion of a plane in the direction of 
its greatest dimension generates a solid. 

The infinitesimal quantity of space is a point ; 
the same quantity of matter is an atom or a mole- 
cule ; the same quantity of time is an instant. If 
we could conceive of the beginning of all things 
and at the same time imagine the existence at once 
and together, of a point in space, an atom of matter 
and an instant of time, then the addition of another 



12 SPACE, MATTER AND TIME. 

atom of matter would require the addition of an- 
other point in space, and to make this addition 
would consume another instant of time. By the 
continuous and perpetual repetition of this process 
we should make an infinite accretion of the differ- 
ent constituents. Thus in this trinity we have 
the germ of a physical universe, and in it we also 
observe the direct, intimate and perpetual union 
of Space, Matter and Time, their perfect and abso- 
lute correlation. In and by and through them we 
become acquainted with the somatology of matter 
and all the forms, varieties, properties and uses of 
force or energy. 



THE STELLAR AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS. 13 



III. 

The Stellar and Planetary Systems. 

In studying the stellar and planetary systems 
the first objects to demand our attention are the 
stars themselves, including both suns and planets ; 
and after these, asteroids, nebulae, comets and 
meteorites. It is not proposed to enter into any 
historical details concerning them. We know, as 
already stated, their position, their composition, 
their characteristics and the laws which govern 
their motions. Of the medium, space, that they 
occupy and in which all their motions are exe- 
cuted ; of the force or forces which insure their 
stability ; of the manner in which those forces act ; 
of the system and order in which they are arranged 
and distributed in space ; concerning all these we 
have much to learn. It is proposed to collect and 
collate such facts and theories as bear upon these 
points, and then to determine whether, from strict 
analogy and legitimate deduction, we are not en- 
titled to advance still farther from the known into 
the unknown. 

" I am," says Faraday,* " exceedingly adverse 

* Conservation of Force. 



14 THE STELLAR AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS. 

to the easy and unconsidered admission of one 
supposition upon another, suggested as they often 
are by any imperfect induction from a small num- 
ber of facts, or by a very imperfect observation of 
the facts themselves ; but, on the other hand, I 
think the philosopher may be bold in his applica- 
tion of principles which have been developed by 
close inquiry, have stood through much investiga- 
tion, and continually increase in force." 



FORCE AND MOTION. 15 



IV. 

Force and Motion. 

Let us now turn our attention to force and mo- 
tion. The chief forces of nature, so called, are 
magnetism, electricity, heat, light, chemical affin- 
ity and gravitation. From these, singly or in com- 
bination, all motion is derived, what are called the 
" mechanical powers " not, of course, being consid- 
ered. Since the general acceptation by physicists 
of the validity and efficacy of what Grove calls 
the " correlation," Faraday the " conservation " and 
Herbert Spencer the " persistence " of force, all 
meaning the same thing, the law which Faraday 
characterizes as " the highest in physical science 
which our faculties permit us to perceive," the 
progress of physical science has been unprecedent- 
ed in extent and never exceeded in importance. 
In the long and earnest endeavor to establish the 
principle of the correlation of forces some physi- 
cists entertained the idea, amounting almost to a 
conviction, that it might ultimately be proven that 
there is, if not an absolute unification of all physi- 
cal forces, which are differentiated only by varia- 



16 FORCE AND MOTION. 

tion of conditions, at least a single force which 
should permeate all others, and connection with 
which should be indispensable for their efficiency. 
Says Faraday * (§ 2146), " I have long held an 
opinion amounting to conviction, in common I be- 
lieve with many other lovers of natural knowledge, 
that the various forms under which the forces of 
matter are made manifest have one common origin, 
or, in other words, are so directly related and mu- 
tually dependent that they are, as it were, convert- 
ible into one another and possess equivalents of 
power in their action. Again, farther on, he says 
(§ 2702), " The long and constant persuasion that 
all the forces of nature are mutually dependent, 
having one common origin, or rather being differ- 
ent manifestations of one fundamental power, has 
made me often think of the possibility of estab- 
lishing by experiment a connection between grav- 
ity and electricity, and so introducing the former 
into the group, the chain of which, including also 
magnetism, chemical force and heat, binds together 
so many and such varied exhibitions of force by 
common relations." 

" All the non-magnetic metals," he says (§ 2295), 
" are subject to the magnetic power," and further 
after the discovery of diamagnetism he says (§ 
2420), that " all matter appears to be subject to the 
magnetic force as universally as it is to the gravi- 
tating, the electric and the chemical or cohesive 
* Experimental Researches in Magnetism. 



FORCE AND MOTION. 17 

forces ;" also (§ 3174), " that whatever idea we 
employ to represent the (magnetic) power ought 
ultimately to include electric forces, for the two 
are so related that one expression ought to serve 
for both. 

Magnetic and electric lines of force are analo- 
gous, and considering the existence of these lines of 
force he says (§ 3273), " The magnet is evidently 
the sustaining poiver. In every point of view, 
therefore, the magnet deserves the utmost exer- 
tions of the philosopher for the development of its 
nature both as magnet and a source of electricity" 
Such are the opinions of this distinguished philos- 
opher. They are more or less fully corroborated 
by many others. One of his most distinguished 
contemporaries, the late Prof. Maxwell, comment- 
ing upon his experiments in magnetism in its re- 
lation to the ether and the electro-magnetic rota- 
tion of light says (Address before the London In- 
stitution), u The vast planetary and inter-stellar 
regions will no longer be regarded as waste places 
in the universe which the Creator has not seen fit 
to fill with the symbols of the manifold order of 
His kingdom. We shall find them to be already 
full of this wonderful medium ; so full that no 
human power can remove it from the smallest por- 
tion of space or produce the slightest flaw in its 
infinite continuity. It extends unbroken from 
star to star ; and when a molecule of hydrogen 
vibrates in the Dog-star the medium receives the 



18 FORCE AND MOTION. 

impulses of these vibrations." Of similar purport 
is the following extract from Sir W. Thomson's 
Papers on electrostatics and magnetism: "It is 
often asked, are we to fall back on facts and phe- 
nomena and give up all idea of penetrating that 
mystery which hangs around the ultimate nature 
of matter? ... It does seem that the marvellous 
train of discovery, unparalleled in the history of 
experimental science, which the last years of the 
world have seen to emanate from experiments, 
must lead to a stage of knowledge in which laws 
of organic nature will be understood in this sense : 
that one will be known as essentially connected 
with all, and in which unity of plan through an in- 
exhaustibly varied execution will be recognized as 
a universally manifested result of creative wisdom." 
More emphatically accordant with the foregoing 
views are those expressed by Helmholtz in his 
"Aim and Progress of Physical Science " : " It has 
actually been established as the result of investiga- 
tions, that all the forces of nature are measurable 
by the same mechanical standard, and that all 
pure motive forces are, as regards performance of 
work, equivalent." .... " Whether the foregoing 
considerations chiefly seek to elucidate the logi- 
cal value of the law of conservation of forces, its 
actual signification in the general conception of the 
processes of nature is expressed in the grand con- 
nection which it establishes between the entire 
processes of the universe through all distances of 



FORCE AND MOTION. 19 

place or time. The universe appears, according 
to this law, to be endowed with a store of energj 7 " 
which, through all the varied changes in natural 
processes, can neither be increased nor diminished ; 
which is maintained therein in ever-varying phases 
but, like matter itself, is from eternity to eternity 
of unchanging magnitude." 

Says Grove in " concluding remarks " on the 
" Correlation of Physical Forces " : " The convic- 
tion that the so-called imponderables are modes 
of motion, will, at all events, lead the observer of 
natural phenomena to look for changes in these 
affections, whenever the intimate structure of 
matter is changed ; and conversely to seek for 
changes in matter, either temporary or permanent, 
whenever it is affected by these forces. ... It 
is a great assistance in such investigations to be 
intimately convinced that no physical phenomena 
can stand alone ; each is inevitably connected 
with anterior changes, and as inevitably productive 
of consequential changes, each with the other, 
and all with time and space ; and either in trac- 
ing back these antecedents or following up their 
consequents, many new phenomena will be discov- 
ered, and many existing phenomena, hitherto be- 
lieved distinct, will be connected and explained. 
Explanation is, indeed, only relation to something 
more familiar, not more known, i. e., known as to 
causative or creative agencies. 

" In all phenomena the more closely they are 



20 FORCE AND MOTION. 

investigated, the more we are convinced that, 
humanly speaking, neither matter nor force can 
be created or annihilated, and that an essential 
cause is unattainable. Causation is the will, crea- 
tion the act, of God." " The natural philosophy 
of the future," says Tyndall (Heat as Motion, p. 
351), " will certainly, for the most part, consist in 
the investigation of the relations subsisting be-- 
tween the ordinary matter of the universe and the 
wonderful ether in which this matter is immersed." 
These citations are sufficient to indicate the cur- 
rent of scientific opinion on the point above re- 
ferred to, and also to convince us that there is an 
earnest, abiding hope and conviction that grand 
results are yet to be attained by further faithful 
work in this direction. 

In this chapter we have preserved the nomencla- 
ture of the distinguished scientists whom we have 
quoted, in order that we might show the change 
that has taken place in that nomenclature, by giv- 
ing the terminology finally adopted by modern 
scientists. The terms "correlation," " conserva- 
tion," and " persistence " of force are no longer 
used. It is now settled that energy, to which we 
have referred in the sequel, is the thing conserved, 
and forces are factors of energy, of which there are 
different kinds or varieties exhibited under differ- 
ent and varying conditions. Of the unity of what 
are called the " forces of nature " all physicists are 
practically convinced, but what term shall define 



FORCE AND MOTION. 21 

that unity is not settled. The unity consists in 
reducing them all to modes of motion of which 
there is an almost infinite variety, many of which 
we have set forth in the sequel. 



22 MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 



V. 

Magnetism and Electricity. 

We propose now to set forth in detail the more 
important results of observation and experiment 
which have been reached up to the present time, 
results of truths and facts in the grand curriculum 
of physical science which furnish the material for 
both the foundation and the superstructure of a 
new Cosmography and a new system of Celestial 
Geography. Let us begin with magnetism and 
electricity. To the strong, earnest, reverent 
genius of Faraday, science is indebted for the 
most original, extended, subtle and lucid exposi- 
tions of the properties, characteristics and effects 
of magnetism considered as a force, and also of 
those of electricity, though less fully. After fin- 
ishing his famous experiments in which he suc- 
ceeded in rotating a ray of polarized light by mag- 
netic and electric forces he says:* " Thus is 
established, I think for the first time, a true, direct 
relation and dependence between light and the 
magnetic and electric forces, and thus a great ad- 
dition made to the facts and considerations which 

* Exp. Kes. in Magnetism, Vol. III. pp. 19-20. 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 23 

tend to prove that all natural forces are tied to- 
gether and have one common origin." 

" A magnet placed in the best vacuum we can 
conceive acts as well upon a needle as if it were 
surrounded by air, water or glass, and therefore 
these lines exist in such a vacuum as well as where 
there is matter." * " All magnets first originate 
lines of magnetic force which other magnets under 
one condition will receive and conduct, and, under 
another condition resist and repel, exhibiting the 
ordinary conditions of magnetic attraction and re- 
pulsion. But currents of electricity are competent 
to produce or induce collateral currents, and mag- 
nets are proved competent to produce like cur- 
rents, thus showing the identity of action of mag- 
nets and currents, in producing effects different 
from those of ordinary magnetic attractions and 
repulsions. External to the magnet, those concen- 
trations which are named poles may be considered 
as connected by what are called magnetic curves 
or lines of magnetic force, and which exist in the 
space around." " These phrases have a high 
meaning, and represent the ideality of magnetism. 
They imply not merely the directions of force 
which are made manifest by the smallest magnet, 
but also those lines of power which connect and 
sustain the magnetic polarities and which exist as 
much when there is no magnetic needle to show 
their presence as when there is." 

* Exp. Ees. in Magnetism, p. 415. 



24 MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 

The earth, according to Gauss, is a great mag- 
net whose power is expressed by the utterly in- 
comprehensible sum of eight octillions of pounds. 
" Experiments prove that there is no loss, or 
destruction, or evanescence, or latent state of mag- 
netic power, caused by distance, nor in consequence 
of the convergence or divergence of the lines of 
force or obliquity of their intersection." (§§ 
3110, 3112, 3113.) " Such an action (Magnetism, 
§ 3075) may be a function of the ether, for it is not 
at all unlikely, if there be an ether, it should have 
other uses than simply the conveyance of radia- 
tions." " It may be a vibration (§ 3263) of the 
Irypothetical ether, or a state of tension of that 
ether equivalent to either a dynamic or static con- 
dition." 

" A magnet presents a system of forces perfect 
in itself, and able, therefore, to exist by its own 
mutual relations." Let us especially note that 
there is no other force of which this can be said. 
" It has a dual and antithetic character belonging 
to both static and dynamic electricity, as is demon- 
strated by the opposite powers of like kind formed 
at its poles. These poles are related to each other 
not only through or within the magnet itself, but 
also by external curves or lines of force, without 
which they cannot exist," * since it is impossi- 
ble to construct a magnet with a single pole. 
" Though the physical lines of force of a magnet 

*Exp. Res., Vol. III., p. 441. 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 25 

must be considered as extending to an infinite dis- 
tance around it, so long as it is isolated, yet they 
may be condensed, compressed into a very small 
local space by other systems of magnetic power." 

From ordinary magnetism, Faraday (Vol. I., 
§157) developed electricity, and refers (Vol. III., 
p. 524) to Carnot's experiment with a revolving 
disk, in which he found currents of electricity com- 
petent to produce collateral currents and magnets 
proved competent to produce like currents. And 
notwithstanding the generally accepted impression 
that all metals lose their magnetism when raised 
to a red heat, he declares that the magnetic metals 
retain a certain amount of magnetic power, what- 
ever their temperature. 

Arago discovered the fact that when a copper 
plate or disk is rotated below a freely suspended 
magnet, the latter tends to follow the motion of 
the plate. This is the effect of a magnetic force 
pure and simple. And Faraday explains it as 
arising from electrical currents induced by the 
magnets in the rotating disk, thus proving, in this 
case at least, that the action of magnetism and 
electricity are identical. He also states (§ 2514) 
that " if a copper disk suspended by a long string is 
set whirling, and is then introduced into the field 
of an electro-magnet, its motion will be instantly 
arrested, and it cannot be further rotated in the 
field." In this case, also, it is the magnetic force 
that proves effective. 



26 MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 

Again, Helmholtz * writes, a copper disk set in a 
wood frame, with multiplying gear, and rotated 
with great rapidity, was placed between two pieces 
of iron which did not touch it, being part of the 
armor of an electro-magnet. Turn the current of a 
3-cell battery round this magnet, and the pieces of 
iron act like a break that entirely stops the rota- 
tion of the disk, and it can only be started again 
by the application of a strong force. Here, also, 
the result is due to magnetism, or the magnetic 
force. Prof. Tait, also, a conservative and accom- 
plished physicist, notes f that " where a conducting 
body is made to move in the neighborhood of a 
magnet, the relative motion of the two produces 
currents of electricity in the conductors. If a 
copper disk be kept so moving, the faster it moves 
the stronger the currents become, until, finally, the 
disk is heated and melted; " thus proving that in- 
tense heat is evolved from magnetism alone, there 
being no friction of surfaces. This is in conform- 
ity with Oersted's investigations, which linked to- 
gether magnetism and electricity, and also with 
Ampere's conclusion, that all the properties of a 
permanent magnet can be explained on the hypoth- 
esis of electrical currents circulating in a fixed 
direction around the magnet. If two polished 
disks of zinc and copper be brought into close prox- 
imity and kept there for some time, and either of 

*Phil. Mag., 1867. 

t Recent Advances in Physical Science. 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY, 27 

them has irregularities upon its surface, a super- 
ficial outline of them will be traced by each upon 
the other, showing the action of magnetic force. 
If the disks be connected with a delicate electro- 
scope, and then suddenly separated, the electroscope 
is affected, showing that superficial radiation from 
surface to surface has produced electrical force.* 

" All substances conduct electricity in some de- 
gree." f " There are no bodies," says Daniel, J 
" which are absolutely non-conductors ; all conduct 
electricity more or less slowly. There are no 
bodies that are perfect conductors ; all offer more 
or less resistance to the flow of electricity." 

One of the most important and comprehensive 
actions of magnetism is that manifested in chemic 
force. Its wide range of affinities and activities is 
marvellous ; its various combinations and mixtures 
are infinite in number. Every stomach, every ap- 
paratus for secretion and digestion in every living 
organism is a chemical laboratorjr in constant 
operation. Every vegetable growth, from the 
least to the greatest, is a product of chemic force. 
The earth is one vast laboratory for the produc- 
tion of germs, roots, stems, cells and protoplasm 
for every possible variety and form of plant-life. 
It energizes all living matter and reproduces new 
life from death and decay. Its most amazing ex- 

* Grove, Con. of Forces, p. 58. 

f Ganot's Physics, p. 566. 

X Principles of Physics, p. 527. 



28 MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY, 

hibition is its selective faculty. The vast fertile 
portions of the earth are covered with innumerable 
forms and varieties of vegetation, of every shape 
and color, producing every variety of fruit to grat- 
ify the taste and of flowers to charm the eye. 

Plant organisms of different size, form, function, 
and color grow side by side in the same soil, the 
same atmosphere and under the same conditions. 
The fruits and flowers that they produce are as 
various in flavor and in fragrance as they are al- 
most infinite in number. 

To the electro-chemic force we are indebted for 
all forms of crystallization — for gems and precious 
stones, for the agates and malachites, for the nu- 
merous variegated marbles, and, especially, for the 
lodestone, without which ocean navigation would 
be nearly paralyzed by day and entirely so on star- 
less nights. 

We have in the sequel (p. 33) noted the fact 
that the greatest magnetic tensity in different 
bodies is manifested at their edges and pointed 
ends. In cylindrical bodies or any bodies with 
curved surfaces it is distributed more or less uni- 
formly through the exterior surface. In trees, 
shrubs and plants the character of the organism 
as to density, elasticity, color, graining, etc., is 
determined by the electrical and chemical action of 
the nutritive material with which, through the aid 
of light, heat and moisture the organism is built 
up. Miiller found that the electrical action in 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 29 

growing trees and shrubs was most effective in 
the extremities of the roots and branches, thus con- 
firming Darwin's observation, as to the roots, that 
their irritability — sensitive growth — was local- 
ized in their tips. This also corresponds with the 
action of magnetism in solids. 

The dynamic energy of magnetism is very strik- 
ingly shown in the growth of shrubs, plants and 
trees. All these except air-plants derive their 
nourishment from the earth and the air. 

One of the most conspicuous exhibitions of at- 
mospheric magnetism, if we may so designate it, 
is seen in the growth of trees standing in groves 
in an open country. All the branches of the trees 
growing on the edges of the grove are strongly 
drawn outward by the magnetism in the atmos- 
phere and in the unshaded earth, while the inward 
growth, towards the shaded earth and shadows of 
the trees, is exceedingly limited, except near and 
at the tops which are fully exposed to the light on 
all sides so that the branches stretch out equally 
in all directions. This characteristic of tree- 
growth is especially exhibited in trees that stand 
isolated in open fields. They present broad, beau- 
tiful, bushy tops, and attain a larger growth than 
the same class of trees standing in forests. 

Young trees of any kind, but especially fruit 
trees standing on either side of a thick grove, 
will be stunted in growth, and after reaching a 
certain height the branches will be drawn toward 



30 MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 

the light and in due time will be so curved as to 
stand nearly at right angles with the bole. No 
branches will grow towards the grove. Light, the 
magnetic force that compels all these branches to 
grow in one direction, is as efficient as any me- 
chanical force could be, though slower in action. 

One of the most beautiful exhibitions of tree- 
growth is the graining of the wood. The word is 
not found in the best text-books in botany, and the 
fact is only slightly indicated in the description 
of the st?*atifted growth of the organism. The 
principal elements in building up the organism are 
the roots and stems, the former drawing from the 
earth the substantial ingredients that furnish 
the protoplasm of the stem with its branches and 
leaves. 

The nutriment of different kinds utilized in 
tree-growth is stored in cells. These cells are of 
different form and size and are disposed in different 
positions in the tree trunks and branches. Some 
of them stand upright, nearly parallel to the axis 
of the stem. But much the larger number of them 
stand at different angles with the axis, as may be 
seen when they are strongly magnified. Each cell 
has its own wall, and as the tree advances in age 
their composition is changed. When the cells are 
small, thin, short and narrow and lie parallel with 
the trunk-axis, the grain of the tree will be straight, 
fine and uniform. When the cells are longer and 
broader with thicker and more porous walls and 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 31 

when they are disposed at different angles with the 
axis of the trunk then the fibrous stratification is 
more manifest and the curved, wavy and forked 
lines and veins of the grain are more fully devel- 
oped. In some species of trees the cells are vario- 
late, presenting an appearance similar to the pit- 
tings of small pox ; others are verticulate, dis- 
posed in sworls. These two classes of cells are 
strongly developed in the curl and spotted maple, 
the graining of which is often very beautiful. In all 
trees the laminated structure that forms the rings 
which mark the annual circumferential growth of 
the tree is most rapidly developed while the tree 
is young. The width of the rings is ahways greatest 
next to the centre of the stem and they grow nar- 
rower each succeeding year. 

We have seen the butt of a white oak the annular 
rings of which proved it to be more than four 
hundred years old, and after being sawed some axe- 
marks near its centre were shown to have been 
made more than one hundred and fifteen years 
before Columbus discovered America. 

That the density and strength of the cell walls 
is greater than that of their contents may be de- 
monstrated by applying an acid of proper strength 
to the clean surface of the heart-wood of any tree* 
The contents of the cells will be eaten out and the 
cell walls will appear like a collection of small 
pits, as indicated below. If these be rubbed hard 
with a bit of polished steel a smoother and harder 



32 MAGNETISM ANB ELECTRICITY. 

surface will be made than can be made in any 
other way. 

The rapidity of growth and graining of the tree 
varies with the season. In the spring, after the 
winter's rest and after the rain showers have 
thoroughly moistened the earth and the rays of the 
sun have become more ardent, then the roots are 
most active and the growth of the tree is most 
rapid. And the graining is then also most rapidly 
developed, being aided by strong winds and gales 
which sway and bend the stem in all directions, 
resembling^ what would be the action of a wet 
cylindrical sponge when bent, in forcing the moist- 
ure to the surface of the inner curve. There is 
also absorption of what Sachs calls the " nutrient 
fluid" from without. Thus the growth progresses 
rapidly until the autumn when the leaves fall and 
the sap descends through the roots to the earth. 
Then follow the colder months of the autumn and 
winter. During this period the bole and branches 
undergo a hardening process, making the wood 
more dense, tough and strong. In tropical climates 
they are hardened by heat, by baking as it were. 
To this high temperature also, is due the gigantic 
vegetable growths of those climates. 

Says Sachs, * " Chemical processes in the interior 
of the growing body is always connected with these 
(micellae) processes of growth. The nutrient fluid 
which penetrates from without contains in fact the 

* Text Book of Botany, pp. 666-7. 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 33 

material for the formation of micellae of a definite 
chemical nature; but the material is chemically 
different from the micellse which it produces. 
Thus starch grains are nourished by a fluid which 
clearly does not contain any starch in secretion, 
and again the cell wall grows by the absorption of 
substances out of the protoplasm which are not 
dissolved cellulose Growth by intussus- 
ception is therefore connected not only with a con- 
tinual disturbance of the molecular equilibrium, but 
also with chemical processes in the interior of the 
growing structure. Chemical compounds of the 
most various kinds meet between the micellae of an 
organized body so that they act upon and decompose 
one another. It is certain that all growth continues 
only so long as the growing parts of the cell are 
exposed to the atmospheric air. The oxygen of the 
air has a decomposing effect on the chemical com- 
pounds contained in the organized structure ; with 
every act of growth carbon dioxide is produced and 
evolved. The equilibrium of the chemical forces is 
also continually disturbed by the necessary produc- 
tion of heat and this may also be accompanied by 
electrical action. The movement of the atoms and 
molecules within a growing organized body repre- 
sent a certain amount of work, and the equivalent 
forces are set free by chemical changes. The essence 
of organization and of life lies in this : that organized 
structures are capable of a constant internal change, 
and that so long as they are in contact with water 



34 MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 

and with any oxygenated air only a portion of 
their forces remains in equilibrium even in their 
interior, and determines the form and framework 
of the whole, while new forces are constantly 
being set free by chemical changes between and 
in the molecules, which forces in their turn oc- 
casion further changes. This depends essentially 
on the peculiarity of micellar structure, which per- 
mits dissolved and gaseous (absorbed) substances 
to penetrate from without into every point of 
the interior and to be again conveyed outwards." 
From this extract we learn that in all growing 
plants the moisture of the atmosphere exercises an 
important function. It acts like a balance wheel 
in an engine ; it secures uniformity of action, of 
energy, and this secures uniformity of growth. 
The atmosphere is never entirely free from moist- 
ure as was abundantly demonstrated by Tyndall. 
To this fact is due the abundant juiciness of tropi- 
cal and semi-tropical fruits, melons, oranges, pine- 
apples, etc., that grow on light soils with infrequent 
rains. 

Says Grey,* "The color in trees is owing to 
special vegetable products, or sometimes to alter- 
ations resulting from age." Chemical action and 
electricity, as noted above, also exert an influence. 
This is true as to single, separate trees. But why 
trees of different species growing in the same soil, 
the same climate and the same atmosphere should 

* Text Book of Botany, Sec. 147. 



MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY. 85 

differ entirely in grain and color, one being of a pure 
white like the outer layers of rough-bark hickory, 
another the dark shade of the black oak, another 
with the deep red of the mahogany, another with 
the soft, bright yellow of satin wood, we do not 
know. Through some subtle alchemy of nature 
the roots and sap seem to be endowed with a selec- 
tive faculty that enables them to supply the par- 
ticular protoplasm necessary for each variation of 
wood, form and color. This selective faculty must 
be mainhy due to chemical affinity and combination. 
There are also various nutrient vegetables grown 
beneath the earth's surface. There are others that 
are rank poisons. All these are indebted to the selec- 
tive faculty of the roots, especially to what the old 
botanists called the nib, for their distinctive charac- 
teristics. It is the chemic force that dyes the foli- 
age of tree, shrub and flowers, that paints the neck 
of the dove and the breast of the robin. The red 
rose and blue violet are as red and as blue at mid- 
night as at mid-day. Light is the subtle and 
potent alchemist that reveals them to our con- 
sciousness. 



36 jELECTBICITY. 



VI. 



Electricity ; Magnetism; Vacua; Radiant Heat; 
The Universal Force. 

In some experiments made by Mr. John Hop- 
kinson, quoted by Sir Wm. Thomson,* he found that 
the electric current traversed with difficulty a partial 
vacuum, and that the more perfect the vacuum 
became the more effectually the current was im- 
peded, until, in a vacuum as perfect as it is possible 
to create by artificial means, the current was entirely 
checked. M. Pliicker employed Geissler a skilful 
glassblower of Bonn, to make permanently ex- 
hausted tubes for experiments in electric discharges 
in vacuo. In his experiments Pliicker found that 
the luminous strata developed by these discharges 
and also the streams and glows after the discharges, 
obeyed magnetical influences in a remarkable way. 
Here we are reminded of the Aurora and the 
Zodiacal light, and still farther by the fact that, 
in one case — the discharge between two aluminium 
balls, — the strise nearest the negative ball were 
* Proceedings of Royal Society, Dec. 11, 1862. 



VACUA. 37 

truncated and of a pale green color, the color 
observed in those lights through the spectroscope, 
as we shall see in the sequel. 

These discharges were also studied by Gassiot by 
means of a galvanic battery and other forms of elec- 
tric generators. We also learn from Ganot * con- 
cerning Geissler's tubes that, " at the moment of 
being closed these tubes are exhausted and before 
sealing them a small quantity of gas or vapor and 
potash is introduced, so that its pressure does not ex- 
ceed half a millimetre." Hence they were not perfect 
vacua. "When a tube three inches long and one 
inch in diameter, provided with very thin platinum 
electrodes five-eighths of an inch apart, was employed 
no discharge passed till the potash which it con- 
tained was heated, when a faint luminosity appeared, 
and immediately afterwards one and then two 
cloud-like striae came from the positive wire, while 
round the negative a large brilliant glow was pro- 
duced ; as the discharge continued the negative 
wire became red-hot." In this experiment proof 
is obtained that the discharge will not pass in a 
very perfect vacuum, the presence of a certain 
amount of matter being indispensable, and then 
heat is developed. Of course the " heated " potash 
supplied the " matter " which destroyed the vacuum 
and was " indispensable " before the discharge could 
pass. Faraday demonstrated that the magnetic 
force freely traversed the same kind of vacuum, also 
* Ganot's Physics, p. 723, Atkinson's Translation. 



38 • VACUA. 

that similar electrical currents placed side by side 
add their quantities together and similar magnetic 
lines of force do the same, hence electric lines of 
force are analogous to magnetic lines of force 
(§§ 268, 269). 

As indicating the compressibility of magnetism 
- — a term repeatedly employed by him and other 
scientists — is the fact that a helix-carrying current 
can develop in an iron core a magnetic force of 
a hundred fold greater power than that possessed 
by itself (§ 3273). « All bodies are affected by 
helices as by magnets, and according to laws which 
show that the causes of the action are identical as 
well as the effects " (§ 22369), thus confirming 
the correctness of the opinion of Ampere as to the 
identity of the action of helices and magnets. 

We also know that when the plane or square 
ends of a bar magnet are made conical or pointed 
their intensity and power are much increased. 
And we are led still further in the same direction 
by the experiments of M. Plante who constructed 
some powerful secondary batteries hy connecting 
the secondary elements side by side or in series. 
By thus connecting four or five elements and dis- 
charging them through a short, thick iron wire, he 
heated it to what may be called the boiling point, 
the centre of it being fused into a ball with bub- 
bles of gas bursting from the interior. He also 
found that the secondary currents would magnetize 
electro-magnets much more powerfully than the 



RADIANT HEAT. 39 

primary currents from which they were derived. 
The maximum magnetization which a steel bar can 
acquire depends not only on the nature of the 
steel and its mode of tempering, but also on the 
dimensions of the bar. It is greater as the bar 
has the form of a longer and thinner cylinder. By 
working very thin rods Kohlrauch observed that 
the magnetic moment of steel may attain 100 
units per gramme, which would give a strength of 
magnetization . . . nearly 10,000 times that of 
the earth.* Joule proved that bars of iron, nickel 
and cobalt were lengthened by magnetization and 
that when the action of the field is suppressed the 
bars shorten without returning to their original 
length. The elongation of cobalt is nearly twice 
that of iron. | 

The blacksmith would find it necessary to 
apply many sturdy blows of his 'sledge hammer in 
order to elongate a bar of cold iron ; but here is a 
silent, invisible, irresistible force that accomplishes 
this work, in a longer time, perhaps, but with 
equal efficiency. It is also proved that a bar of 
soft iron becomes heated when subjected to suc- 
cessive magnetizations and demagnetizations or to 
magnetizations in opposite directions, f The elonga- 
tions by heat and the shortening by frost of iron 

*Marcart and Joubert : Elect, and Mag., translated byE. 
Atkinson, 
f Joule's Scientific Papers, Vol. I., pp. 235-264. 
\ Grove : Art. VI. Magnetism. 



40 BABIANT HEAT. 

rails and other bars of iron exposed to the alterna- 
tions of the weather are familiar facts. Prof. 
Crookes, by means of what he calls radiant matter, 
operating in vacuum tubes or bulbs of glass, pro- 
duced the shadow of an aluminium cross on the 
phosphorized end, so to speak, of a bulb. The 
radiant matter thus projected not only made the 
glass phosphorescent, but also warmed it, a very 
remarkable result, indicating that if the strength 
of the induction coil were increased and its action 
longer continued the temperature of the glass 
would have been raised even, perhaps, to the 
melting-point.* 

The mechanical action of this radiant heat is 
shown by the glass railway bulb, within which, on 
a pair of glass rails, a small wheel with wide mica 
spokes is propelled. This mechanical action is 
further exhibited *in the beautiful electrical ra- 
diometer which carries within the bulb a fly — as 
Crookes calls it — with four square vanes of mica 
supported on aluminium arms, having beneath a 
ring of fine platinum wire, the ends of which pass 
through the glass and may be connected with an 
induction coil. On this being so attached as to 
make the platinum wire the negative pole the 
vanes were rotated with great velocity. Now as 
Faraday and Hopkinson demonstrated that elec- 
tricity cannot freely traverse a vacuum, it follows 
that these and all similar results obtained by means 
Gorton : Electricity and Mag., pp. 121, 122. 



BABIANT HEAT. 41 

of these tubes must have been produced by 
magnetism or a magnetic force, since it has also 
been demonstrated that magnetism easily traverses 
a vacuum. Further, in regard to vacua we may 
note that Morgan, quoted by Grove, — Art. Light 
— " found no conduction by a good Torricellean 
vacuum," and that Masson found that the barom- 
etric vacuum does not conduct a current of elec- 
tricity, or even a discharge, unless the tension is 
sufficient to detach particles from the electrodes;" 
and further that Gassiot " by adopting a plan of 
Dr. Andrews, viz. : absorbing carbonic acid by 
potash, succeeded in- forming vacua across which 
the powerful discharge from the Rhumkorf coil 
will not pass." The old Realists — so called — 
spake more wisely than they knew when they de- 
clared that "Xature abhors a vacuum." This is 
sufficiently demonstrated by the fierce alacrity 
with which it hastens to fill one that has been 
produced by the operation of its own laws. When 
a vacuum is created in the air by the explosion of 
a thunderbolt the vast pressure of the whole 
terrestrial atmosphere instantly rushes in to fill it. 
Now, if it be true, according to the abundant 
evidence we have cited, that electricity cannot 
traverse a vacuum, it must be particularly noted 
that there can be no electricity in the medium or 
force that fills that vacuum, for all the electricity 
in the vicinity had been exhausted by the dis- 
charge of the bolt, and even if electric currents 



42 THE UNIVERSAL FORCE. 

could have been present they would been ineffec- 
tive. But magnetic currents or lines of force freely 
traverse a vacuum, and these must have supplied the 
force which restored the atmospheric equilibrium. 
Leibnitz says, " The ultimate source of all motion 
is the original force lying in all bodies which may 
be restricted or limited in various ways by the 
conflict or collision of other bodies. This force 
lies in all substances and a certain action always 
arises from it." This was written nearly 200 years 
ago, and is a very good description of the magnetic 
force as we know it to-day. Kant claims that 
Leibnitz founded the dynamic conception of 
nature which has since continued to prevail. The 
following may be accepted as a free translation of 
a significant passage in his (Leibnitz's) doctrine 
of Monads : " Matter must be always the same, 
since the monads are always the same ; and force 
can never be destroyed since the monad can never 
be destroyed. The whole interchange of forces is 
simply the result of a greater or less degree of 
movement on the part of the universal force which 
every atom possesses, and all forces are, therefore, 
correlated with each other through motion." "And," 
continues Kant, " if the student of nature at the 
present day, in all his experiments and inferences, 
starts from and returns to this idea, if in all the 
varying phenomena and manifold magic of the outer 
world, his endeavor is always to grasp the one 
natural force and bring it into subjection to 



THE UNIVERSAL FORCE. 43 

thought and law, this mode of viewing things 
traces its origin to Leibnitz." And in summing 
up the doctrine of Leibnitz he argues that it was 
based " partly upon errors and partly upon truths,'' 
both of which he specifies. Among the truths is 
his express belief in " the animation of all things ; 
the recognition of an inner, active principle co- 
operating or rather operating in everything w^hich 
stirs or moves."* 

Magnetism may be imparted to different metals 
and other substances by slight contact, by friction, 
by induction and by impact, gentle or smart raps. 

The latter method was suggested by Sir Isaac 
Newton when one of his contemporaries informed 
him that he could not succeed in repeating Sir 
Isaac's experiment of magnetizing by friction with 
a magnet, small bits of paper under glass, the two 
being slightly separated from each other. He in- 
formed his correspondent that if after duly applying 
friction, the paper did not rise to the magnet, he 
would gently rap the glass he would succeed, as 
he did. In this direction, after successfully re- 
peating Sir Isaac's experiment, we further tested 
the method in the following manner, using flat- 
headed, soft, bright iron French nails, three inches 
long, % inch in diameter, a lodestone hammer 
weighing four ounces and a small pocket compass. 
Making a rest for the nails in a bit of wood we 
treated them as follows, the head of each being 

* Kant : Crit. of Pure Reason, pp. 279, 299. 



44 THE UNIVERSAL FORCE. 

presented to the positive pole of the needle im- 
mediately after contact. 

Wire No. 1 slight contact for \ second deflected 

the needle 34° 

" " 2 " " " 2 seconds " " 44° 

" <( 3 one light rap " " 30° 

" " 4 one smart rap " " 38° 

" " 5 ten •« " " " 55° 

We have used these facts, as will be noted in 
the sequel, when treating of hunting dogs. 



LIGHT AND HEAT. 45 



VII. 

Light, Heat and Magnetism; Chemical Action; 
All Natural Forces Equivalent. 

We know that light and heat are easily developed 
from artificial magnets. " Heat," says Bacon,* 
u is an expansive motion whereby a body strives 
to dilate and stretch itself to a larger sphere or 
dimension than it had previously occupied. Cold 
contracts or narrows most substances so that in in- 
tense frosts nails fall out from walls and brass 
cracks." Few residents of New England seventy 
years ago can have failed to hear, on a bitter cold 
morning, the sudden, sharp report that followed 
the starting of some of the wrought-iron nails that 
were used at that time in the erection of wood 
buildings. 

When a bar of soft iron is held in the hand in a 
temperature of 60° F. no inconvenience is felt 
whether the hand be dry or moist, but let the iron 
be exposed in the open air over night when the 
temperature is 30° F. below zero, if it then be 
touched with a moist finger, it cannot be removed 
without abrading the flesh. A small horse-shoe 

* Novum Organum, App. XX. 



46 LIGHT AND HEAT. 

magnet, as was proved by the writer, had its 
magnetic power very materially increased by out- 
side exposure for 12 hours in a temperature of 10° 
F. Mr. Coxhall relates that, in the famous balloon 
ascension made by himself and Glashier in 1862, 
just before they had reached their greatest altitude 
and while Glashier was lying exhausted in the car, 
he wished to let out the gas, and on removing the 
thick glove from his hand to do so, his fingers 
were frozen the moment they touched the wire. 

It is definitely proved that the temperature falls 
as we ascend above, and rises as we descend below, 
the surface of the earth, and that the magnetic in- 
tensity is least at the equator and greatest at the 
poles ; also that the tensity in the magnetism in 
different bodies varies according to their form 
or shape. If the body be oblate or an oblong 
spheroid, the intensity is greatest at the poles, and 
still greater if it be of a cylindrical form with conical 
or pointed ends, as we have before noted. The 
depth of the electric fluid on an angular conductor 
increases in rapid proportion on approaching the 
edges, is still further augmented at the corners, 
which may be regarded as two edges combined, 
and is a maximum if the conductor have the form 
of a point, thus exhibiting at each change a greater 
condensation of the fluid.* 

When a fine point is used to produce a dis- 

* Noad : Text Book of Electricity, pp. 18, 19. 



LIGHT ANT) HEAT. 47 

ruptive discharge from a positively charged con- 
ductor the brush discharge (from the conductor) 
gives place to a quiet, phosphorescent, continuous 
glow covering the whole end of the wire and ex- 
tending into the air. Faraday covered, with a 
beautiful and luminous glow, a brass ball one and 
a quarter inches in diameter.* Several instances 
are reported in which the electric spark has been 
drawn from a natural magnet. It was done by 
Faraday and also by Prof. Forbes of Edinburgh in 
1832. By the use of a powerful lodestone he 
succeeded, repeatedly, in producing the sparks, f 
This experiment is important as further proving, 
if such proof were necessary, the identity of the 
action of natural and artificial magnets. The 
identity or oneness of condition of the electric and 
magnetic forms of power is abundantly manifested. 
Thus, unlike magnetic lines when end on, and 
when similar poles are face to face, repel each 
other ; unlike electric currents when in the same 
relation, also repel each other ; like magnetic forces 
when end on coalesce ; like electric forces do the 
same ; like electric currents end to end, do not 
add to their sums, and like magnetic lines of force 
do not increase each other ; lastly like currents 
side by side add their quantities together, and like 
magnetic forces do the same,"f all of which we 
have before set forth. 

* Noad, p. 36. \ Id. p. 303. % Id. p. 271. 



48 CHEMICAL ACTION. 

Has magnetism any dynamic, mechanical force? 
Faraday reminds us that when a magnet, either 
artificial or natural, is in a quiescent state or state 
of rest the magnetic force exists, is latent in the 
magnet itself and in the surrounding space just as 
decidedly and efficiently as when the magnet is 
excited by any exterior influence. The moment it 
is so excited its mechanical power is at once 
manifested. If the like poles of two magnets be 
approached to each other each repels the other. 
Metallic contact may be forced but it is not possible 
to force a contact of the opposing, polar forces. If 
the positive pole of a natural or artificial magnet 
be moved at a right angle toward the positive end 
of a magnetic needle, the needle will be deflected 
more and more as the approach is nearer. If 
opposite poles are approached to each other they 
will draw themselves together and finally clasp 
and cling to each other with a force that cannot 
be overcome except by the application of a still 
greater force. A horse-shoe magnet will draw its 
keeper to it across a certain distance in space and 
after contact they cannot be separated except by a 
force greater than the potential of the magnet. 
Ganot's disk placed in a certain position in the 
magnetic field requires a very strong force^ com- 
paratively, to move it. In all these cases a 
mechanical force is as perfectly exhibited as in the 
application of steam to the piston of a steam 
engine. The tail of a cat is a perfect illustration 



CHEMICAL ACTION. 49 

of the mechanical action of magnetism. When 
the animal is quiet its inertia, its state of rest is 
perfect. The moment the animal becomes excited 
by fear, fright or friction, the magnetic force, the 
mechanical action, is immediately and strongly 
manifested. The relation between magnetism and 
chemical action, light and sound has been abun- 
dantly established by Dr. Thomas Young, Sir 
Humphrey Davy, Prof. Tyndall, Ganot and others, 
and Prof. J. W. Draper concluded " that electrifica- 
tion exercises an apparent control over all the 
phenomena of capillary attraction." 

"There are," says Grove, "few if any chemical 
actions which cannot be made experimentally to 
produce electricity." 

In relation to gravitj^, the last of the natural 
forces we proposed to consider and which Faraday 
so earnestly but vainly strove to co-ordinate with 
magnetism and electricity, we can only define it 
under our hypothesis, as a magnetic force operat- 
ing constantly in one direction, that is, toward the 
centre of all suns and planets and the centre of the 
stellar systems to which they belong. 

Grove,* can conceive of no other relation be- 
tween gravitation and other forces, than that it is 
identical with pressure or motion. Mosotti con- 
sidered gravitation as identical with cohesive at- 
traction, and cohesive attraction is closely allied to, 

* Correlation of Physical Forces, Youman's Edition, pp. 
171-2. 
4 



50 NATURAL FORCES. 

if not identical with, chemical attraction or affinity. 
The identity of cohesive and magnetic attraction is 
strongly indicated by the fact, shown in so many 
instances where death has resulted from accidental 
contact with strongly charged electric wires, that if 
a person seizes such a wire with the bare hand the 
hand and the wire will be at once so strongly glued, 
stuck together, that they can only be separated by 
detaching, tearing the flesh from the hand. We 
have already noticed a similar effect produced by 
clasping with moist fingers, an intensely cold wire 
charged, according to the new theory, with negative 
magnetism. P Kicker showed that crystalline bodies 
are definitely affected by magnetism. " There is 
scarcely any doubt that the force which is con- 
cerned in aggregation is the same which gives to 
matter its crystalline form ; indeed, a vast number 
of inorganic bodies, if not all, which appear 
amorphous are, when closely examined, found to 
be crystalline in their structure. We thus get a 
reciprocity of action between the force which unites 
the molecules of matter and the magnetic force, 
and through the medium of the latter the correla- 
tion of the attraction of aggregation with the other 
modes of force may be established.'' Considering 
gravity as a form or modification of magnetism we 
may repeat and add to, the reasons that induce 
the conclusion that it is so. We repeat the fol- 
lowing extracts : — I., from Helmholtz : " It has 
actually been established that all the forces of 



NATURAL FORCES. 51 

nature are measurable by the same mechanical 
standard and that all purely motive forces" — of 
which gravity is one — " are, as regards performance 
of work, equivalent." This is not identity, but it 
is equivalence, which is of nearly the same value 
and is more significant than analogy. 

II. From Leibnitz : " The ultimate source of 
all motion is the original force lying in all bodies 
which may be restricted or limited in various ways 
by the conflict or collision of other bodies. This 
force lies in all substances and a certain action al- 
ways arises from it," and also that " the whole in- 
terchange of forces is simply the result of a greater 
or less movement on the part of the universal force 
which every atom possesses, and all forces are there- 
fore correlated with each other through motion." 

The very definition of gravity, the attraction of 
gravitation, indicates its co-relation to magnetism, 
for there is no other natural force-chemical affinity, 
cohesion, aggregation and capillary attraction being 
recognized as correlatives of magnetism — that at- 
tracts or repels other bodies. The earth, according 
to Gauss,* as before noted, is an enormous mag- 
net of immense power. Were not the magnetic 
force the dominating force of gravitation the 
planets and their satellites — to revive a very ven- 
erable idea — could not be retained in their orbits. 
" The force by which the earth dominates the moon 
is the same force by which the sun dominates the 

* Gauss : Intensity of Magnetic Force. 



52 NATURAL FORCES. 

earth and the moon and also all other planets and 
satelites connected with our system." * To these ex- 
tracts from Helmholtz and Leibnitz and Gauss we 
add the declaration of Sir Isaac Newton, made in 
his famous 3d letter to Bentley, to wit : " Gravity 
must be caused by an agent acting constantly accord- 
ing to certain laws ; but whether this agent be mat- 
erial or immaterial I have left to the consideration of 
my reader." There is but one force in nature " act- 
ing constantly " and freely and that is the magnetic 
force which is the all-sufficient " agent " to cause 
the constant action of gravity. 

" However if by this or any other argument you 
have proved the finiteness of the universe, it 
follows that all matter would fall down from the 
outsides and convene in the middle. Yet the 
matter in falling might concrete into many round 
masses like the bodies of the planets ; and these by 
attracting one another, might acquire an obliquity 
of descent by means of which they might fall, not 
upon the great central body, but upon the side of 
it and fetch a compass about, and then ascend 
again by the same steps and degrees of motion and 
velocity with which they descended before, much 
after the manner that the planets revolve around 
the sun, but a circular motion in concentric orbs 
about the sun they could never acquire by gravity 
alone" 

The Italics are ours, emphasizing the fact that 

* Gauss : Intensity of Magnetic Force. 



NATURAL FORCES. 53 

" gravity alone," in Newton's opinion, could not 
give the planets a " circular motion" " about the 
sun." 

It is evident that the action of gravity con- 
sidered as mere avoirdupois is zero, except in one 
direction, and this entirely independent of rotation. 
We can satisfy ourselves of this fact by the fol- 
lowing considerations : Let us suppose the sun 
and all the planets, in their normal condition, to 
be inclosed in a metallic cylinder, say ten octillions 
of miles long and standing perpendicular to the 
plane of the ecliptic, so that up and down shall be 
above and below that plane. Then let us suppose 
the space within the cylinder to be converted into 
a perfect vacuum, and that, at the same instant, 
the ends of the cylinder shall be hermetically 
sealed, and further, that the enclosed bodies shall 
be at once deprived of their magnetic energy and 
become simply inert. 

From what we know of vacua, it is certain that 
the enclosed bodies would begin to fall and would 
continue to descend until they reached the bottom 
of the cylinder. If the centre of gravity in each 
body were below the centre of figure, as it neces- 
sarily would be, then no rotation or change of 
direction would be possible. 

Let us now imagine that, just before reaching 
the bottom, the cylinder should be instantly re- 
moved and the magnetism and atmospheric air 
that had been temporarily removed should be 



54 NATURAL FORCES. 

instantly restored. Then the released bodies would 
resume their usual proper motions, rotating on 
their axes and revolving in their orbits. 

The tides are a perfect demonstration of the ex- 
istence of an attracting, drawing, levitating force. 
Without the direct action of such a force they 
could not exist. Gravity as mere weight can pro- 
duce no such effect. Now, since it is certain that 
unlike magnetic poles attract each other and that 
we neither know, nor can excite, in matter, any 
other force that may be inherent in, or can be im- 
parted to, them that can attract or draw them 
towards each other, we can only conclude when 
we see two material bodies so attracted or drawn, 
that the acting force must be magnetic. 

Treating of comets, Sir John Herschel says : 
" Beyond all doubt the widest and most interest- 
ing prospect of future discovery which their study 
holds out to us, is that distinction between gravi- 
tating and levitating matter, that possible and in- 
disputable demonstration of the existence of a 
repulsive force co-extensive with, but enormously 
more powerful than the attractive force we call 
gravity, which the phenomena of their tails 
affords." 

" These forces are specially polar in their action 
between particle and particle of indefinitely minute 
dimensions.* We have no knowledge of any polar 
forces except those that are magnetic. 

* Familiar Lectures, p. 140. 



NATURAL FORCES. 55 

" Solar light and solar heat," says Tyndall, * " lie 
latent in the force-gravity — which pulls an apple 
to the ground." But light and heat are both forms 
of magnetic force ; hence, if Tyndall is right, the 
three forces are correlative, f " Created simply as 
a difference of position of attracting masses the 
potential energy of gravitation was the original 
form of all the energy in the universe." If this be 
true, then magnetism is a correlative of all natural 
forces. 

According to Kirschoff the sun consists of a 
solid or partially liquid nucleus in the highest 
state of incandescence. The number of dark lines 
measured by Angstrom and Thalen amount to 
1000 in which they found a coincidence with the 
Fraunhofer lines, of more than 460 bright lines of 
iron. This large preponderance of the most 
magnetic of substances indicates the strong mag- 
netic power of the sun. 

From the foregoing facts and considerations 
there seems no alternative left but to conclude 
that the sun is a magnet. If we concede the sun 
to be a magnet and gravity to be a form of magnetic 
force, we have at command an easy solution of all 
physical phenomena. 

We are hardly at liberty to suppose that the two 
last statements above were intended to be of a 

* Heat as Motion, p. 453. 

f Thomson and Tait, in Good Words, quoted by Tyndall : 
Heat as Motion, p. 453. 



56 NATURAL FORCES. 

mere general character, without specific meaning. 
The distinguished and most competent physicists 
who made them were specially treating of forces 
in a most comprehensive manner, Prof. Tyndall 
of Heat, and Messrs. Thomson and Tait of Elec- 
tricity and Magnetism. They certainly would not 
forget a force so conspicuous and important as 
gravity. 



TRANSCENDENTAL MAGNETISM, 57 



VIII. 

Transcendental Magnetism; World System; Cod 
in Creation ; Swedenborg ; Kant ; Nebular Con- 
glomeration ; World-stuff ; Semi-spiritual Sub- 
stance ; Attributes of Cod ; Spiritual Effluence ; 
Primordial Matter; Rotary Motion; Spirit, 
Mind and Matter ; Extra-stellar space. 

Let us now consider magnetism in what may be 
termed its transcendental relations, in which we 
may define it as the connecting link between mind 
and matter, or rather as the medium by and 
through which the Divine Energy is imparted to 
all matter, is made effective in the outer-stellar 
spaces when and as far as the Divine Mind shall 
direct. 

We know that magnetic energy is influenced 
by distance ; that is to say, having a stationary 
magnet at any given point if we place a magnetic 
needle near it, two of the opposite poles will be 
drawn together. Now if we move the magnet 
away from the needle the magnetic force is dimin- 
ished as the distance between the two is increased, 
•until, finally, the magnet ceases to attract the 



58 WORLD SYSTEMS. 

needle. The energy of the magnet reaches its 
limit. If, now, we substitute a more powerful 
magnet, it will influence the needle at a still 
greater distance ; and so on indefinitely. Hence if 
we have a magnet of infinite potency it will influ- 
ence a needle placed at an infinite distance from it. 
If we have an infinite spiritual energy influencing 
any other form of matter than a magnetic needle 
the result will be the same. We may suppose 
that the primary exhibition of this energy was an 
exercise of God's will ; a divine effluence from in- 
finite power, an emanation from pure spirit. 

The origin of this, and some cognate ideas, is 
very old. According to Anaxagoras, B. c. 500, 
the primitive condition of things was a heteroge- 
neous commixture of substances which continued 
motionless and unorganized for an indefinite 
period. Then Mind began to work upon it, com- 
municating to it motion and order. The Mind 
first effected a revolving motion at a single point ; 
but ever increasing masses were gradually brought 
within the sphere of this motion, which is 
incessantly extending farther and farther the in- 
finite realm of matter." * 

A little later Leucippus and Democritus — 
" maintained that space was eternally filled with 
atoms actuated by an eternal motion. The 
weight of the larger atoms forced them down- 
ward, while simultaneously the lighter ones were 

* Alex. Winchell : World Life, etc., p. 552. 



WORLD SYSTEMS. 59 

thrust upward. Mutual collisions produced lat- 
eral movements. Thus rotary motion was gen- 
erated which, extending farther and farther, 
occasioned the formation of worlds." These views, 
somewhat varied, were extended by Epicurus 
and the Roman poet Lucretius. 

At a much later date — 1733-1734 — we have the 
voluminous and complicated speculations of 
Swedenborg. A very fair summation of them is 
given in a letter of Mr. T. F. Wright to Prof. 
Winchell,* as follows : " You will there notice 
that the idea is that creation is by the self-sub- 
sisting God ; that His infinite love and wisdom 
demanded the universe ; that its production was 
not by extension of the infinite nor by the exten- 
sion of nothing, but by the determination of the 
infinite into recipient forms produced by itself by 
degrees, each of which was the medium of creative 
energy to that next below ; that this process ter- 
minated in matter ; that this gradation was, is and 
always will be, the vehicle of transmission of life 
from the Divine ; that the preservation exemplifies 
the creation ; that the. production of forms of life 
on earth was through the production of their spir- 
itual prototypes when the time came for it in the 
process of development ; thus, that the evolution 
was subject at every point to the creative process." 

Omitting the views of Mr. Thomas Wright, 
referred to by Kant, we come to the grand the- 
* World Building, etc., p. 571. 



60 WORLD SYSTEMS. 

sis, the sublime speculations and reflections of 
Kant himself, to which we have before made 
slight reference. We make a few quotations 
from a summary of them given by the late Prof. 
Alexander Winchell.* 

" I assume," he says, " that all the matter in the 
solar system, in the beginning of all things, exist- 
ed dissolved into its elements, and filled the entire 
space of the system. Its existence is an outcome 
of the Divine Mind. It was endowed with a ten- 
dency to form, through natural development, a more 
perfect constitution." ... " The cosmical fabric, 
through its immeasurable magnitude and the end- 
less variety and beauty which shine forth from it 
on all sides, impresses us with silent amaze- 
ment. . . ." 

The stars are centres of other systems like our 
own. They are composed of the same elementary 
particles. Like the planets of our zodiac, they are 
arranged in a limited zone which we style the 
Milky Way. " The Milky Way is the zodiac of 
the higher world orders." But even beyond the 
bounds of the sj^stem of the Milky Way, are other 
firmamental systems — other Milky Ways. We 
contemplate with amazement their faint figures pic- 
tured on the concave vault of heaven. One might 

* World Building or Comparative Geology, the most 
excellent and exhaustive treatise on the subject extant, 
from the standpoint of the advocates of the nebular and 
vortex theory. 



GOD IN CREATION. 61 

well conceive an endless succession of mutually 
disconnected world systems ; but such a plan 
would not provide for the perpetuity of order; 
and unless the common principle of attraction 
extended through the entire universe of matter, 
there would be wanting that character of persist- 
ence which is the mark of the choice of God. But 
a universal co-ordinating principle implies one com- 
mon centre, and one vast central mass of matter. 
Here the process of creation began. From this 
middle point it has extended continually outward 
over the infinite chaotic waste of unorganized 
material atoms. I know of nothing that can lift the 
soul of man to a nobler amazement than the outlook 
over this boundless field of Almighty power. 
Worlds rise into being upon worlds in endless prog- 
ress ; and beyond other bounds of the widest 
realms of order, confusion and chaos forever con- 
tend on a field as limitless as if the work of crea- 
tion had not already attained an endless develop- 
ment. Assign whatever diameter we will to the 
completed creation we are always near the middle 
point ; beyond the periphery of the sphere, over the 
infinite expanse, lie buried, in the stillness of the 
night, the germs of order awaiting the progress 
of eternity to be quickened into active life. So 
the process of cosmical organization extends itself. 
" Creation is not the work of a moment." Millions 
and mountain-ranges of millions of ages will flow 
away and. " the creation never will be complete. 



62 GOB IN CREATION. 

It was indeed once begun, but it will never end." 
...'." Whatever has origin and beginning has 
in itself the characteristic of its finite nature ; it 
must decay and come to an end. The infinitude 
of creation is wide enough to spare a world or 
a Milky Way as easily as a flower or an insect. 
Meanwhile eternity is adorned by ever-varying 
manifestations, because God remains active in the 
unceasing work of creation." But the vastness of 
objects and events so enstamped with the charac- 
ters of change and mutability leaves the soul unsat- 
isfied ; " it feels a desire to know more intimately 
that Being whose intelligence, whose greatness, 
is the fountain of that light which, as if from a 
central source, illuminates the totality of nature." 
" Happy soul if, amid the tumult of the elements and 
the ruin of nature, it can look down always from 
its lofty position, and see the current of desolation 
which brings ruin to all finite things sweep by, as 
it were, beneath its feet." " When then the fetters 
which hold us bound to the vanity of created ex- 
istence, in the moment appointed for the transfor- 
mation of our being shall have fallen off, then 
will the undying spirit, freed from dependence on 
finite things, find the enjoyment of true happiness 
in communion with the 'eternal existence." .... 
Thus there exists a Being of all beings, an in- 
finite Understanding and a self-existent Wisdom, 
from which nature, in the whole aggregate of her 
correlations, derives existence. 



NEBULAR CONGLOMERATION. 63 

Winchell in discussing nebular heat adopts the 
general impression that it arises from the aggre- 
gative process (pp. 93-4) " that the process of con- 
glomeration affords an explanation of the intense 
heat which vaporizes "the nebular matter. " But," 
he says, " even yet the mystery of beginnings hangs 
over us. We have not yet seen molecules rolling 
themselves up into visibility. We have never, 
even in imagination, seen atoms emerging from the 
dread abyss of nothingness. Let us explain all 
we may ; let us seek out all antecedent conditions 
possible, enough still remains to pique our curios- 
ity and awe us by its mystery. Nay, the farther 
we trace the links of the chain of causation, the 
more palpably we feel the need of some support 
which is not one of the links in the chain, but is 
superior to the principle of finite causation, and is 
self-sufficient, existing out of relation to succession, 
time and space." 

" It thus appears that the hypothesis of nebular 
conglomeration explains two otherwise inexplicable 
phenomena — nebular amorphism and nebular heat. 
A third phenomenon hitherto mysterious and un- 
explained is equally accounted for. That is the 
rotary motion which sometimes arises in nebular 
masses. This difficulty has often balked belief 
in the nebular theory of the origin of the solar 
system." According to Hemholtz,* " the general 
attractive force of all matter must, however, com- 
* Interaction of Natural Forces. Youman's ed. p. 231. 



64 WORLD-STUFF. 

pel these masses to approach each other and con- 
dense so that the nebulous sphere became incessantly 
smaller, by which, according to mechanical laws, 
a motion of rotation originally slow, and the exist- 
tence of which must he assumed, would gradually 
become quicker and quicker." Thus he assumes 
what Winchell claims is unexplained. 

In a " cosmical speculation " Winchell writes : 
" The universal world-stuff is scattered generally 
through boundless space Out of this semi- 
spiritual substance germinate then the molecules 
of matter." 

The dominant ideas set forth in the last few 
pages are : 

I. That, scattered through boundless space is 
a universal world-stuff, a semi-spiritual substance 
out of which germinate the molecules of matter. 

II. That from these are formed nebular con- 
glomerations or masses, accompanied by intense 
heat. 

III. That hence resulted rotary motion, a phe- 
nomenon hitherto assumed and unexplained. 

IV. That the " mystery of beginnings " still 
hovers over us. 

Let us consider them in reverse order. 

Deity in its essence is inscrutable, in its action 
not wholly so. 

We have (supra?) referred to the attributes of 
God, His omnipotence, omniscience and a qual- 
ified omnipresence. This latter we conceive to be 



SEMI-SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE. 65 

a quiet cognizance, and elementary consciousness 
ever and instantly responsive to the Divine Will. 
It is not nothing, it is an emanation from the God- 
head, an effluence from the Divine embodiment, the 
spiritual, personal magnetism of Deity. We have 
its analogue in the Saviour's life. " And Jesus said, 
Somebody hath touched me, for I perceive that 
virtue hath gone out of me.* As many as touched 
his garment's hem were made perfectly whole." f 

It is the infinitesimal something from which 
primordial matter is evoked or evolved, it is the 
primary element of creation, it is the germ of every 
material growth from the atom to the molecule, 
from the molecule to the mountain, from the 
mountain to the star. It is the life principle of 
every living organism since no such organism can 
exist independent of its agency. There is but 
one force or form of energy that can fulfil these 
conditions. It is magnetism. 

As bearing upon this point we make an extract 
from the interesting work J of Dr. James R. Nichols, 
noticing the death of a patient of the late Dr. 
Clark of Boston, as described in an essay entitled 
"Visions," to which Dr. Oliver W. Holmes wrote 
an introduction. Dr. Clark says that the lady 
" after saying a few words, turned her head upon 
her pillow as if to sleep ; then unexpectedly turning 
it back, aglow, brilliant and beautiful exceedingly, 
came into her features, her eyes opening, sparkled 
with singular vivacity ; at the same moment, with 

* St. Luke viii. 46. t St. Matthew xiv. 36, 

t Whence, What, Where, Boston, 1883. 
5 



66 SEMI-SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE. 

a tone of emphatic surprise and delight, she pro- 
nounced the name of the earthly being nearest and 
dearest to her, and then, dropping her head upon 
her pillow as unexpectedly as she had looked up, 
her spirit departed to God who gave it. The con- 
viction forced upon my mind that something departed 
from her body at that instant of time, rupturing the 
bonds of flesh, was stronger than language can 
express. " 

Dr. Holmes referring to this case says, " Dr. 
Clark mentioned a circumstance to me not alluded 
to in the essa3 r . At the very instant of dissolution, 
it seemed to him, as he sat there by the dying lady's 
bedside, that there arose something, — an undefined 
yet perfectly apprehended somewhat, to which he 
could give no name, but which was like a depart- 
ing presence." Dr. Holmes further says, " I 
should have listened to the story less respectfully, 
but for the fact that I had heard the same experi- 
ence almost in the same words from the lips of 
one whose evidence is to be relied upon ; with the 
last breath of the parent she was watching, she 
had the consciousness that something arose, as if 
the spirit had made itself cognizable at the mo- 
ment of quitting its mortal tenement." 

Let us now express in our human phraseology 
the condition and action of the primary forces. 
Deity is the grand centre and positary of all forces, 
all forms of energy, a force and energy that are 
immanent, ominant, positive. Here then is our 
omnipotent magnet. Its spiritual effluence goes 
out and is diffused in all directions. As its dis- 
tance from the grand centre increases, its potency, 



SEMI- SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE. 67 

by a divinely imposed condition, is diminished; it 
grows less and less until it becomes a negative 
force. As the distance between the asymptote 
and curve of the hyperbola constantly diminishes 
but never becomes zero, so this divine effluence 
constantly diminishes as it retreats from its central 
source but never reaches zero, although it ceases 
to be luminous. 

Sir Isaac Newton wrote as follows, Principia, 
Book III., p. 314. "And now we might add some- 
thing concerning a certain most subtle spirit which 
pervades and lies hid in all gross bodies, by the 
force and action of which spirit the particles of 
bodies mutually attract each other at near distances 
and cohere if contiguous ; and elective bodies 
operate to greater distances, as well repelling as 
attracting the neighboring corpuscles ; and light 
is emitted, reflected, refracted, inflected and heats 
bodies ; and all sensation is excited, and the mem- 
bers of animal bodies move at the command of the 
will, namely, by the vibrations of this spirit, 
mutually propagated along the solid filaments of 
the nerves, from the outward organs of sense to 
the brain and from the brain to the muscles." His 
theory of the emission of light, however, has been 
superseded by the unclulatory theory. 

We have quoted the views of Swedenborg and 
Kant concerning the evolution of matter through 
the agency of the Divine Will, which all philoso- 
phers and physicists admit to be the sole and cen- 



68 ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 

tral source of all power. The nidus of the natural 
forces is magnetism. Its action and functions are 
regulated by fixed laws. A distinguished poet 
and essayist * writing without a scientific purpose 
sets forth some important scientific truths, namely : 
" Everything in nature is bipolar or has a positive 
arid negative pole. There is a male and a female, 
a spirit and a fact, a north and a south. Spirit is 
the positive, event the negative pole. Will is the 
north, action the south pole." 

Let us imagine Deity, Infinite Power, as occupy- 
ing alone infinite space, a condition that is conceiv- 
able. Says Sir Thomas Browne : | — " Before the 
creation of the world God was really all things." 
" Before the mountains were brought forth or ever 
the earth and the world were made, thou art God 
from everlasting and world without end. J If this 
condition had continued and God had remained 
inactive there would have been no entity inde- 
pendent of his personality. A limited portion of 
space could have been occupied only by the radi- 
ant undulations of the Light Ineffable. How, 
then, came matter? By the action of God's will 
upon the spiritual effluence from the Godhead. 
Matter is the incarnation of Spirit, as is irrefutably 
proved by the birth of the Saviour, who was con- 
ceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a Virgin." 

* E. Waldo Emerson : Essay, Character, 
f Religio Medici, p. 374 Bolin's Edition. 
X Psalm xc. v. 2. 



SPIRITUAL EFFLUENCE. 69 

Treating of " Life in Matter " Lotz writes : * 
"With this hypothesis of unextended atoms, we 
have removed the only difficulty that could prevent 
us from giving ourselves up to the thought of an 
inner mental life pervading all matter. The in- 
divisible unity of each of these simple beings, that 
in it the impressions reaching it from without are 
condensed into modes of sensation and enjoyment. 
All that stirred our interest in the content of sen- 
tience may now have a place of objective existence 
in these beings, and numberless events ascertained, 
not directly by sensation, but on the circuitous 
path of scientific investigation, need not now be 
lost, but may, within the substances in which they 
occur, be converted into much glow and beauty of 
perception to us unknown. All pressure and ten- 
sion undergone by matter, the rest of stable equili- 
brium and the rending asunder of former connec- 
tions, all this not only takes place, but also in tak- 
ing place gives rise to some enjoyment, each several 
being entwined with various reciprocal actions 
into the whole of the world, is, in the words of our 
greatest national thinkers, a mirror of the universe, 
from its place feeling the connection of all things 
and representing the special view which it yields 
to that particular place and standpoint. No part 
of being is longer devoid of life and animation ; 
only a certain kind of activity, the motions which 
adjust the states of the one to those of the other, 
* Microcosinos, Vol. I. Book III. Chap. IV., p. 360. 



70 SPIRITUAL EFFLUENCE. 

are twined like an external mechanism through 
the fulness of the animated creation, conveying to 
all, opportunities and incitements to the various 
development of the inner life. 

" In this sketch," he says, " we indicate a concep- 
tion of whose spiritual truth we are convinced, 
yet to which we can hardly expect any further 
concession than, that among the dreams of our 
imagination it may be one of those which do not 
contradict actual facts." * 

How completely and admirably the spiritual, 
transcendental magnetism fulfills these condi- 
tions and energizes the vital links of the chain 
that binds every organism to the Omnipotent 
Will. 

Hence the evolution of the universe. Hence 
also, by the further exercise of the Divine Will 
organic laws were established in accordance with 
which every combination of matter, solid, liquid 
and gaseous, and every form of life, animal and 
vegetable, was developed. 

Says Hegel : f " The whole normal process of 
history, to which all the life of man, in Family, in 
Civil society and State, is organic, consists in the 
progressive realization of concrete human freedom, 
that is, of the essential spiritual nature of man 
through the conscious recognition of God as the 

*Microcosmos, Vol. I. Life in Matter, Book III. Chap. IV. 

p. 360. 

f Ethicality, § 270. 



SPIRITUAL EFFLUENCE. 71 

foundation of all the true life of the human spirit, 
and of the Divine Will as the true substance or 
content of the human will. In the whole process 
of history or of the ' ethical world,' humanity is 
progressively learning, and showing that it is 
learning, that its true language is ; Lo, I am come 
to do Thy will, O God.' " 

He also writes : * " History is the formation of 
spirit into deed, into the form of immediate actual- 
ity. Hence the phases of the development as im- 
mediate natural principles." 

Star-dust, world-stuff, suns and planets were 
first developed. In due time, after these last were 
sufficiently matured, the various forms of life were 
evolved, the lower forms first and these succeeded 
by the higher, the last and highest being man, who 
derived his spirit, his mentality, direct from Deity. 

" The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord." 
Prov. xx. 27. 

" The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit 
that we are the children of God." Romans, viii. 16. 

" There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of 
the Almighty giveth them understanding." Job, 
xxxii. 8. 

" And I will put my spirit within you and cause 
you to walk in my statutes." Ezl. xxxvi. 27. 

" — for the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the 
deep things of God." I. Cor. ii. 10. 

After referring to birds, fishes, other animals 
* Ethicality, § 346. 



72 MIND AND MATTER. 

and man, the Psalmist says (civ. 30). " Thou 
senclest forth thy Spirit, they " (men and animals) 
" are created." 

The mental power in man is called reason, in 
brutes, instinct. They are the same in kind, dif- 
ferent only in degree. Man exercises his instinct 
before he does his reason. He first gains knowl- 
edge by experience and afterward by observation 
and instruction. If this were not true he could 
exercise no influence, could gain no control over 
other animals. He could establish no friendly re- 
lations with them. He could not even teach a 
dog his name. There could be no trained ele- 
phants, no trick horses or mules, no tame lions or 
tigers, nor any talking birds. There are innumer- 
able authentic records of the reasoning, logical 
capacity of animals, of their friendly and disinter- 
ested actions. 

Thus in relation to mind and matter we have 
given a conceivable explanation of the " mystery 
of beginning " referred to (supra) in paragraph 
IV. It will also serve to elucidate paragraph I. as 
to "world stuff" and " semispiritual substance." 
Paragraphs II. and III. relate to the intense heat 
produced by the conglomeration of nebular masses 
and the resulting "rotary motion." In our own 
stellar system w r e know that outside of the atmos- 
pheres of the sun and the planets the space is 
totally dark and intensely cold. This must also be 
true in the interstellar space in all stellar systems. 



EXTRA-STELLAR SPACE. 73 

And this condition must be more emphatically 
true of the extra-stellar space, since there is there, 
no matter, nothing to be consumed or to be sub- 
jected to frictional force except the spiritual efflu- 
ence above noted. Necessarily it is impossible 
that any heat should be evolved. The darkness 
and the cold are at their maximum. Neither is 
there any rotary motion except as we will endeavor 
to explain. 

Sir Isaac Newton inferred "from some crude 
observations" that the power of a magnet decreases 
in the triplicate ratio of the distance. At a more 
recent period Coulomb has shown that the law of 
attraction and repulsion is inversely proportional 
to the square of the distance. Magnetism, how- 
ever, as a terrestrial force is very eccentric in its 
action and is manifested in many ways and under 
many peculiar conditions by reason of its connec- 
tion with the densest forms of matter. In the 
celestial space it is more uniform in its action. 

How then did the Divine mind secure the develop- 
ment of " a more perfect constitution " and subject 
it to the " working of a single general law?" We 
know that the potency of a given magnet is dimin- 
ished according to a fixed law. When the potency 
has reached its limit it becomes negative. If now 
a stronger force be applied to the border-limit of 
this exhausted force its action will be renewed 
and this action will be directly proportional to the 
force applied. 



74 EOT ART MOTION. 

Let us now suppose that the divine effluence is 
diffused in all directions to such limit as God 
chooses to assign and that, when by His Will it is 
energized into matter, he then imparts to every 
atom of matter its potency, its affinities and its 
function. Some of the atoms are positive, some 
negative, some diamagnetic and some of them, like 
nitrogen, are neutral. Although all matter is 
more or less magnetic, still in all forms of matter 
some molecules are more highly charged, are more 
potent than others. So also there is a wide differ- 
ence in the chemic force of different molecules and 
the facility with which they unite. Some require 
more or less time to effect a thorough combination, 
less time for a simple mixture. Consequently 
when two molecules are attracted to each other 
the instant thej^ come in contact a gyratory motion 
ensues the direction of which is determined b}^ the 
most potent molecule which is almost invariably 
positive. Thus motion is set up, friction occurs 
and heat is developed. The two combined atoms 
in their course meet with a third atom having an 
affinity for one of them ; it at once unites with the 
pair and joins in the gyratory evolution. Thus 
agglomeration is effected, motion and heat increase 
and finally, under the operation of fixed laws and 
with the lapse of time, worlds are developed. Suns 
and planets are formed. They are moving in space 
in obedience to a single form of energy and all of 
them in one direction, from left to right and with 



BOTAEY MOTION. 75 

a rotary motion. Thus we have shown the origin 
of that motion which, according to paragraph III. 
(supra) has been " hitherto assumed and unex- 
plained." 

We will now state the facts that furnish irre- 
fragable proof of the truth of our conclusion. 

All the planets revolve in their orbits from left 
to right. 

The sun rotates on his axis in the same direction. 

All the planets except Uranus and possibly Nep- 
tune rotate on their axes in the same direction. 

All the satellites revolve in their orbits in the 
same direction, those of the planets Uranus and 
Neptune excepted. 

The moon rotates on its axis in the same direc- 
tion and no satellite is known to have an axial 
rotation in a contrary direction. 

If a magnetic current is made to descend, from 
the North Pole a magnet placed vertically, it will 
rotate the pole from left to right. 

If a magnetic line of force moves from the North 
Pole along the path of a polarized ray of light, it 
will rotate the ray in the same direction. 

Water discharging from faucets or other aper- 
tures, or escaping from funnels, wash-bowl or 
bath-tubs, invariably gyrates from left to right, 
provided the edges and inner surfaces are smooth ; 
and it is immaterial what the shape of the aper- 
ture is. 

If two different liquids or gases, having mutual 



76 EOT ART MOTION. 

affinities, are presented to each other they unite 
and rotate from left to right. 

The gyration of liquids may be shown by drop- 
ping a tablespoonf ul of dark-colored French brandy 
into a tumbler of water. 

When molecules of oxygen and hydrogen — both 
permanent gases — come in contact, combination is 
readily effected, aqueous vapor is formed, and by 
the high diffusive power of hydrogen is rapidly 
diffused in every direction, resulting ultimately in 
rain-drops and fresh-water rivers and seas. The 
addition of sodium — one of the most abundant of 
the natural elements — and chlorine develops the 
salt seas and oceans. Ox}^gen being strongly 
magnetic, determines the left-to-right gyration of 
the compounds. 



ROTARY MOTION. 77 



IX. 



Experiments in Magnetism. — Effects of Cold; San- 
itary Effects; Effect on Growing Plants; On 
a Steel Spring ; Hunting Dogs; The Sense of 
Smell ; Birds of Prey ; Vis-viva of Soaring 
Birds ; Keenness of Vision ; Sense of Touch ; 
The Horse. 

Haying- a small horse-shoe magnet, and wishing 
to test the effect of temperature upon it, I attached 
to the keeper — a small thin piece of bright iron — 
by a silk thread, a small basket, in which I put as 
many shot as the magnet could sustain, the basket 
and shot weighing ten ounces. The thermometer 
in the room standing at 70° F. in a cold January 
evening I put the magnet outside on the window- 
sill, where the mercury stood at 10° F. Taking it 
in early the next morning it sustained 4 oz. addi- 
tional weight. I tried this experiment repeatedly, 
the volts always increasing as the temperature 
decreased. Possessing a Kidder battery of 5 cells 
by the use of three and four of them when troubled 
with catarrh and weakness of voice, both were re- 
lieved and strengthened at once by application of 
the electrodes, covered with moist sponge, to the 



78 EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 

throat. Weakened vision was also strengthened 
by application of the same electrodes to the eyes. 

Desiring to test the effect of magnetism on 
growing plants, I selected in a conservatory two 
pots of colias, the plants of the same age and size, 
with variegated leaves in high colors. Having 
thoroughly pulverized a strong lodestone, the 
plants were removed from the pots, fresh earth 
put in, and a cavity scooped out in the centre. 
The roots were placed in this cavity in each pot, 
one of them properly packed with a mixture 
of six parts of rich earth with one part of com- 
minuted lodestone, and the other with the rich 
earth only. They were placed on the bench in 
their usual position and treated alike. In three 
months the first was more than one-third larger 
than the other, and the color in the leaves was 
brighter. I then selected four pots of the same 
size, filled them nearly full of rich earth and 
scooped a cavity in each one. In the first I put 6 
grains of wheat, in the second 6 grains of rye, and 
covered both with a mixture of 1 to 8 of rich mold 
and pulverized lodestone. In the other two I put 
wheat and lye in the same way and covered them 
with rich loam onty. The four pots were set to- 
gether in the open air and treated alike. The 
grain in the lodestone pots germinated earliest, 
grew most rapidly, was tallest and of brightest 
color. As the pots were not large enough to 
mature the stalks, no grain was produced. 



EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 79 

Two years after our experiments, we found the 
following item in a public journal : 

" M. Spechneff, a Russian agriculturist, electrified 
the seeds of peas, beans and rye, for two minutes, 
by passing a current through them. The result 
was that the plants which sprang from the seeds 
thus treated were much more vigorous than those 
from unelectrifiecl seeds. He also electrified the 
soil by burying plates of zinc and copper in it so 
as to make what is called an " earth battery.'' 
The plates were connected above ground by an 
iron wire. The result was an astonishing crop. 
A radish grew over seventeen inches in length 
and five and one-half inches thick ; a carrot grew 
ten and one-half inches in diameter, and weighed 
six and one-half pounds." 

Another of our own experiments was made with 
a steel spring 21 inches long, f of an inch wide 
and 1-64 of an inch thick. It was marked off 
into 3-inch spaces. Each division mark was 
lightly touched with the positive end of a lode- 
stone hammer 2i inches long and weighing i of a 
pound. The needle of a small pocket compass 
responded to each division mark. After a touch 
of each mark with light pressure the needle vi- 
brated more actively, and after a small tap on each 
mark the needle was rotated entirely around at 
each division line as the compass was moved from 
end to end of the spring. After several smart raps 
in quick succession, the needle was still more 



80 EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 

vigorously rotated. I treated both arms of a car- 
penter's iron square in the same manner with the 
same result. 

This experiment in connection with the experi- 
ments recorded on page 39 suggested the probable 
action of hunting dogs in pursuit of game. The 
earth and all vegetable fibres are conductors. The 
fox or the hare when not alarmed travel leisurely 
over the roads, across the fields and through the 
woods, making an impact on the surface such 
merely as their weight would give. When alarmed 
they start upon a run and a smart blow is given at 
every leap. So, when the hound first starts out 
for the game he moves cautiously in different 
directions until he gets the clew, then he advances 
a little more confidently until he recognizes the 
stronger track, when with his utmost vigor, he 
runs reynard or the hare to cover or the ground. 
The terrier does the same for the rodent and the 
pointer and setter secure their game by the exercise 
of the same faculty. We know that both the dog 
and the cat are very magnetic animals, as we may 
readily infer from their physical constitution. 
Oxygen, the most magnetic of all gases, is found 
in the blood of all animals, and Speilman found in 
the ash of brain — substance particles of matter 
that were attracted by the magnet-iron or manga- 
nese — and Laer found peroxide of iron, 0.5 to 1.85 
in hair, indicating its magnetic character. We 
also know that the sense of smell in some dogs is 



EXPEBIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 81 

very acute. Every one who has had experience 
with hounds and terriers, pointers and setters has 
observed this fact. He has seen a hound or terrier 
in full chase on a certain line, halt instantly, 
change direction and pursue the new course with 
the same speed and confidence, even when he 
doubles on the track of the game. There seems no 
explanation of this except that their nasal organs 
are most sensitive magnetic poles, and that, with 
the wisdom of unerring instinct they " follow their 
noses." " Reason," says Burke, " often errs ; 
instinct never." 

But there is a perception, an instinct still more 
acute than this. We know with what rapidity 
and how extensively odors are diffused through 
the gases and through the atmosphere, many gases 
being themselves highly odoriferous and penetrat- 
ing. Here we have, apparently, a key to another 
of nature's secrets ; that which enables birds of 
prey to find their game and animals to seek each 
other's society. The "eagle, the hawk and the raven 
follow, with unerring certainty, the track of death 
and decay. It is an impressive sight to watch the 
eagle, as we have repeatedly done, when he leaves 
his eyrie to seek food for himself and his royal 
mate, who is attending to her domestic duties 
while incubating the eggs that are to furnish the 
heirs to the lofty throne. Leaving his perch he 
sweeps from it as a centre in a wide horizontal 
curve, perhaps ten miles in diameter, which serves 



82 EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 

as the base of a spiral in which he continues his 
flight constantly ascending, each curve being more 
contracted than its predecessor until he suddenly 
leaves it and strikes a tangent downward for a 
distant point. One of two reasons has determined 
his course. He has two senses of great penetrat- 
ing power in his eyes and nostrils. In his upward 
flight both are intensely active, the first in search- 
ing for fields where lambs, hares, fowls or other 
small game may be seen ; the other to detect odors 
that are in the air. If he sees the game he starts 
directly for it ; if he detects an odor he follows it 
to the carrion from whence it emanates. 

The soaring flight of the condor, the eagle and 
other birds of pre} r furnishes peculiar and interest- 
ing evidence of an inherent energy that produces 
motion without apparent action. The eagle while 
performing his spiral ascent vibrates his wings 
only in the first few curves of the spiral, after 
which by some magnetic vis-viva he literally soars 
upward with outstretched wings. When he first 
turns on his tangential flight he vibrates his wings 
for a moment, then bringing them to a poise, he 
rushes clown with a constantly accelerating ve- 
locity. The condor's long-sustained soaring and 
floating capacity is well known. No more delight- 
ful, exhilarating and less fatiguing mode of motion 
can be imagined. It is not surprising that the 
popular fancy should suppose wings to be the 
motors of the angelic host. 



EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 83 

The hawk is apparently more indebted to his 
eyes than to his nostrils for his supply of food. I 
saw an interesting instance of this while standing 
on the bridge over the rapids of the American 
channel in the Niagara River just above the Falls. 
A fish hawk soaring some 1200 feet above, suddenly 
descended into them, seized a mullet some six or 
eight inches long and rose again into the air. 
After reaching an altitude of eight or nine hundred 
feet he lost his hold on the fish, which, of course, 
began a fall of constantly increasing velocity. 
The hawk instantly turned in pursuit and recap- 
tured the fish before it struck the water. As his 
wings were folded this violation of the laws of 
gravity must have been due to the fact that the 
bird, the living matter, exerted some inherent 
power, some natural vim that enabled it to accele- 
rate its downward motion while, at the same time 
the distended air bladder of the fish may have 
slightly retarded his motion. St. John de Creve 
Coeur in his " Travels " in upper Pennsylvania in 
1798, describes a similar scene and gives a pictorial 
representation of it. A hawk, having risen in the 
air with a fine pike, is set upon by an eagle and 
compelled to drop his game, whereupon the eagle 
starts for and secures it before it reaches the 
water. In these cases the birds may have been 
aided by a magnetic vis viva different from mere 
gravity. 

The horse gains knowledge both by touch and 



84 EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 

smell. If he fears, or has an aversion to any 
particular object, as a buffalo-robe or open umbrella, 
let it be caref ulty, gently presented, to him so that 
he can touch it with his lips and smell it at the 
same time, and his fears will be quieted, never 
after to be excited therebj". His lips are his 
fingers. If he fears a pokerish stone or stump, let 
a man sit upon, or stand near it, and make any 
motion that will indicate his presence, and the 
horse can at once be led up to it, as we have 
proved experimentally. 

The inter-cranial organ of smell is more largely 
developed in the lower animals than in man. In 
birds, however, it is very small and hence its 
acuteness with them is the more remarkable. It 
is also remarkable in some aboriginal races. 
Humboldt informs us that the Peruvian Indians 
know by smell when a stranger is approaching, 
and before he is sufficiently near to note his 
complexion, whether he is a European, or an 
Indian or a Negro. Late experiments in hypnot- 
ism prove that the sense of smell is greatly intensi- 
fied in those who are subjected to its influence. 
The experiments of Charcot and Bernheim in 
France and of Braid in England have shown some 
astonishing developments. 

In one case a visiting-card was torn into strips 
and given to a lady who was hypnotized, her eyes 
being closed as in sleep. After she had smelt 
repeatedly of one of the strips, they were all hidden 



EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 85 

in different places in another room, more than forty 
feet distant. She then found them all, smelt of 
each piece, placed them together in proper order 
and read correctly the name on the card. 



86 EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM. 



X. 

Force ; Energy. 

In treating of the influence to which matter is 
subjected in order to produce changes in its posi- 
tion, condition or action, we use the term force, 
not because, in all cases, it is most appropriate, 
. but because it is appropriate in the greatest num- 
ber of cases, and for the further reason that it is 
already habilitated in the vocabulary of scientific 
terminology. Mayer's definition of " force " is 
" something which is expended in producing 
motion. " English physicists propose to condense 
this into the single word " energy " and to allow 
the word " force " to retain the meaning which it 
bears in common language. Energy, however, is, 
scientifically, more exact. 

In our citations we have set forth quite fully 
the strong conviction entertained by the most 
eminent physicists that there must be a unification, 
so to speak, of forces, and that there must be one 
predominating force of which all the others are 
modifications or variations, and we quoted the 



FORCE, ENERGY. 87 

arguments and facts designed to establish this 
postulate. 

Of course the grand, primeval origin and source 
of all power, of all force, is the everlasting, al- 
mighty, omniscient God. Says Meyer — " Force 
of Inorganic Nature " — " The first cause of all 
things is Deity — a Being ever inscrutable by the 
intellect of man." All other powers and forces of 
every kind, form and degree are derived from this 
one supreme force, and are differentiated from it 
by certain fixed, unchangeable laws — unchange- 
able except by the will of the Lawmaker. Among 
these are the forces of nature, so called, which we 
are permitted to investigate, analyze and utilize. 

In treating of magnetism, we specialized and 
emphasized its power, its condition and its action, 
and particularly its correlation with other forces, 
We showed its universality, its presence and in- 
fluence over all forms of matter, its constant, in- 
herent energy, attractive and repulsive, accretive, 
disruptive and explosive ; the amazing and in- 
dissoluble connection between its poles, the im- 
possibility of producing one of them without at 
the same moment producing the other, and the 
marvellous range of activity between these two 
extremes from the faintest spark of the Leyden 
jar to the thunderbolt that rends the mountain and 
shakes the earth ; from the slight chill that con- 
denses the dew-drop to the intense temperature 
that solidifies the mountain torrent and builds up 



88 FORCE, ENERGY. 

the resistless glacier that plows its rocky furrow 
down the mountain side. 

The conclusion at which we arrive is that all 
the other forces of nature are, more or less, de- 
pendent upon this force, whether considered as a 
monad or a dyad, and that all the other natural 
forces, electricity, light, heat, gravity, sound, 
chemical affinity, capillary attraction, repulsion, 
attraction, disruption amd explosion are modifi- 
cations of it, or are influenced by it. 

Some physicists prefer to assign this predomi- 
nance to electricity. It matters little what we 
name the first term of the series provided we get 
correct results. Faraday proved the actions of 
magnetism and electricity to be alike and calls 
them " analogous." Grove proved the same fact 
and calls them " correlative but not identical." 
" But," says Helmholtz,* " there are still other 
natural forces which are not reckoned among the 
purely moving forces — heat, electricity, magnetism, 
light, chemical forces, all of which stand in manifold 
relation to mechanical processes. There is hardly 
a natural process to be found which is not ac- 
companied by mechanical actions or from which 
mechanical work may not be derived." 

The agency of heat in nature is almost universal, 
and it either primarily occasions or materially in- 
fluences all the different changes that take place 
upon our globe. 

* Popular Sci. Lee. translated by E. Atkinson, p. 162. 



FORCE, ENERGY. 89 

" It is capable of altering most of the colors of 
bodies, and it is perpetually producing numerous 
decompositions and new combinations upon every 
part of the surface of the globe. * We have 
before shown (p. 70) the action of magnetism on 
vegetable colors. There are results that can be 
produced by magnetism that cannot be produced 
by electricity. But there are two other cardinal 
facts which effectually differentiate the two forces. 
The first is, that electricity, except in its modified 
form of heat or light, cannot traverse a vacuum. 
It may be forced through, but cannot freely 
traverse it. This magnetism does in any vacuum 
however perfect." 

The second grand fact is that we can get no 
electric action unless Ave manufacture it so to 
speak. [This will be deemed utterly erroneous by 
those who claim that " electricity is never created 
or destroyed " but " is simply moved and strained 
like matter." Is it then matter or analogous to 
it ?] Two or more substances are indispensable 
and must be used to secure electric action. If it 
is desired to obtain currents of frictional electricity 
the amber, the sealing wax, the glass rod, the silk 
and woollen fabric must be procured, and then the 
necessary physical force must be applied to develop 
the currents. Another method of producing the 
electric current is through the proper arrangement 
and physical manipulation of the Voltaic pile. 
* Sir H. Davy, Works, Vol. II. , pp. 393-97. 



90 FORCE, ENERGY. 

If the static or Faradaic current is sought, the me- 
tallic cylinder, the iron core, and the silk-covered 
copper wire to form the coil must be prepared and 
properly arranged, then the manufactured battery 
must be connected before the current can be gen- 
erated. With a little less labor, but still labor, a 
current can be obtained b} T induction or by impact. 
In all these cases it has been necessary to manu- 
facture the electric action, or obtain it by artificial 
appliances. 

But the magnetic force, magnetism, is self-exist- 
ent, constant, always ready. From the sun, the 
lodestone, the atmosphere, the earth, it leaps in- 
stantly into life under proper conditions, manifests 
its presence and performs its work, on the land, in 
the sea and in the sky. The sphere of its activity 
is everywhere, in everything, in all conditions of 
life and in all forms of matter. It pilots the mari- 
ner safe through the stormiest seas in the darkest 
nights ; utterly blind itself, it safely leads all who 
see ; it clicks the seconds on the clock of time and 
with invincible power and unfailing constancy it 
swings the pendulum of eternity and wheels the 
planets in their orbits and the stars in their courses. 
With its mighty arms extended from a common 
centre, with its positive right hand and its nega- 
tive left, it rotates around each other, orbs that are 
billions of miles apart. And }^et, for centuries 
men have debated whether it "acts at a distance " 
or can be considered as a physical force. Faraday, 



FORCE, ENERGY. 91 

having the courage of his convictions, pronounced 
it a force and demonstrated the existence of " phys- 
ical lines " of " magnetic force." His great con- 
temporary, Mr. Clerk Maxwell, who demonstrated 
mathematically the correctness of Faraday's pro- 
positions, advanced a step farther and hints at its 
existence, in a certain sense, as matter. These are 
his words : " In fact a theory of magnetic matter, if 
used in a purely mathematical sense, cannot fail to 
explain the phenomena (of magnetism) under cer- 
tain conditions." * If it is not matter it is inher- 
ent in all matter. If it is not force, or energy, it is 
absolutely essential to the efficiency of all force or 
energy. 

" In heat of varying temperatures different de- 
grees of magnetic force are manifested. It is al- 
ways magnetism either active or latent." Faraday 
showed that " iron and nickel, when heated to a 
degree far above that required to render them in- 
sensible to an ordinary magnet, still pointed axially 
between the poles." And we may again call to 
mind Faraday's declaration that oxygen is a mag- 
netic substance, its magnetic force being in propor- 
tion to its density. Hence if it were absolutely 
solid it would be the most perfect of lodestones. 
" In warm-blooded animals it is more or less active ; 
in cold-blooded animals more or less latent." 

If our conception — mark the if — of the nature of 
magnetism be accepted as correct, we may study 

* Elec. and Mag. Vol, II. p. 6. 



92 FORCE, ENERGY. 

the correlation of other forces with it. Light is 
reflected magnetism. Projected from the sun it 
passes through the total darkness of the ether and 
the partially rarefied gases lying between the at- 
mosphere of the sun and the earth and is only 
made manifest when it strikes the earth, whence it 
is reflected back, makes our atmosphere, and the 
hemisphere of the earth exposed to the sun is al- 
ways luminous — solar light. Electricity is con- 
densed magnetism. It is identical with light dur- 
ing its passage through the ether. The resistance 
of friction condenses it and converts it into caloric. 
The more obstinate and complete the resistance 
the more intense is the caloric produced, as is 
abundantly demonstrated by the electric arc light. 
The intensest power of magneto-caloricism is ex- 
hibited in disruptive discharges. 

We have stated in our preface that, after finish- 
ing our notes on the properties of magnetism, we 
had seen, for the first time, Hodge's Modern Elec- 
tricity, in which he says, p. 123 : "The commonest 
way in which electricity makes its way through a 
gas, setting aside the mere mechanical conveyance 
by solid matter, is that of disruptive discharge." 
This is especially true of nitrogen. 

Further, he says : " The atoms of a particular 
substance — iron, for instance, or zinc — have an 
electric whirl " — magnetic, we should call it — " of 
a certain strength circulating in them as one of 
their specific physical properties." (P. 149.) We 



FORCE, EX ERG Y. 93 

can predicate nothing concerning physicality, if we 
may use the term, nor of materiality independent 
of matter. All matter can be infinitely ex- 
panded and rarefied, or compressed and condensed. 
AVe know that magnetism, light, sound and elec- 
tricity, since Hertz's experiments, can be com- 
pressed, condensed, and reflected or refracted. 



94 DISRUPTIVE FORCE. 



XL 

Disruptive Force. 

The most terrific results of the magneto-calo- 
rific force are manifested in disruptive discharges. 
The " freaks of lightning," as they are very appro- 
priately called, are of frequent and familiar occur- 
rence, and often of a most singular character. At 
times, several persons standing near each other are 
all instantly killed. Again, a mother, sitting with 
a child in her arms, is instantly killed, while the 
child remains uninjured. A large mass of material 
in a building or other form is, in a few moments, 
reduced to ashes. Again, another mass of matter 
is instantly shivered into fragments, without a sign 
of ignition on any of them. 

Harris reports the case of an English ship, whose 
main-mast, weighing 18 tons, was three feet in 
diameter, 110 feet long, and strongly bound with 
iron hoops, some of which were half an inch thick 
and five inches wide, yet it was shivered to pieces 
by an electric bolt, and the hoops burst asunder 
and scattered around amidst the fragments of the 
mast. 



DISRUPTIVE FORCE. 95 

We were once within a few rods of a beautiful 
pine tree, 50 feet high, with a bole 16 inches in 
diameter, a wide-spreading, ovate top, standing 
near a rustic walk. A thunderbolt, that shook the 
buildings in the vicinity, reduced it instantly to 
fragments, not one of which was equivalent to a 
piece a foot long and an inch in diameter, and not 
one of them was even scorched. 

The bolt sometimes produces clairvoyant effects. 
There is an authentic account of an intelligent 
farmer, who, in a cloudless day, was leading his 
saddled horse across a pasture. A thunderbolt 
burst suddenly over his head, instantly killing his 
horse, gave him a shock that threw him to the 
ground, but did him no injury. His eyes were 
closed, but his mind was perfectly clear. Through 
the back of his head he saw the horse fall, 
and could see objects all around while the shock 
lasted. 

The fact that nitrogen, in some form, is the chief 
ingredient in artificial explosives seems to confirm 
the belief that it is largely present in thunder- 
bolts. 

Confirmatory of this view is the fact stated (seq., 
p. 129), that, the higher we ascend from the earth, 
the more nitrogen and the less oxygen we find. 

Earthquakes, tidal-waves, cloud-bursts, cyclones 
and hurricanes, all are results of the disturbance, 
greater or less, of the earth's magnetic equilib- 
rium, external and internal. When sun-spots are 



96 DISR UP TIVE FOR CE. 

largest and most active, and when the sun and 
moon are then in conjunction with the earth, this 
disturbance is at its maximum and its effects are 
most destructive. And there is every reason to 
believe that this disturbance is increased by the 
vast number of iron and steel rail-tracks, telegraph, 
telephone, electric and trolley wires running in all 
directions over the land and under the water in all 
parts of the world. Very strong, almost conclu- 
sive evidence of this fact, is found in the greater 
frequency of magnetic storms, cyclones and hurri- 
canes, and the less frequent displays of the Aurora 
Borealis. These two last phenomena — cyclones 
and hurricanes — are exhibited more frequently by 
day than by night. It would be interesting and 
useful if the Weather Bureau would systemati- 
cal^ note their recurrence, as also the auroral 
displays. 



LIGHT— WHAT IS IT? 97 



XII. 

Light — What is it? 

Light is the most wonderful, beautiful and use- 
ful of all the phenomena of the universe. The an- 
nouncement of its origin is the most sententious, 
sublime utterance in any language. Grod said, let 
there be lights and there was light. There could 
be neither tree nor shrub, neither bud nor blossom 
nor fruit, without light ; the earth would become 
a desert without light; there can be no color re- 
vealed to us without light ; the seven-fold glory of 
the prism could not be developed without light ; 
the richest odors are born of light. The fragrance 
of hot-house flowers is far inferior to that of those 
which lift their fragrant palms to the cloudless 
blue. Light paints the lily, perfumes the violet, 
and gives its blush to the rose ; it flashes in the 
diamond and nestles in the ever-changing tints of 
the opal ; it reveals the bloom on beauty's cheek, 
and beams in the love-light of her eyes ; it glows 
in the early dawn, and robes in a blaze of glory the 
sunset hour; it portrays, actinically, each feature 



98 LIGH T— WHA T IS IT f 

of the warm summer landscape, and glorifies the 
foliage of the autumn woods ; it fills, like a bene- 
diction, all the air of a sweet Sabbath in June ; it 
fairly revels and dances in the gorgeous plumage 
of birds and the brilliant scintillations of insects' 
wings ; it sparkles in the morning dew-drop, and, 
with all the rich, prismatic hues, it portrays upon 
the rain-drop screen the sign of God's eternal cove- 
nant of peace with man. We know it in more 
phases and it blesses us in more ways than any of 
the other phenomena of nature. And yet, what 
is it? 

If an individual could be miraculously endowed 
with a body that he could move in any direction 
by his own will, and a mental power that could 
continue active and efficient under all conditions 
and that could endure all possible alternations of 
temperature, if such a person at noon, on a cloud- 
less clay were to start directly toward the sun, 
shining in all its meridian splendor, what would 
be his experience ? After leaving the earth he 
would feel the pleasant excitement of a bird on 
the wing until he reached an elevation at which 
the air, becoming more rarefied by the loss of one 
proportion of its oxygen, would become converted 
into exhilarating gas, since the higher we ascend 
the more nitrogen and the less oxygen we find. 
Breathing this in the mild radiance and soothing 
serenity of the charming temperature, he might 
believe that he had reached the Elysian fields. 



LIGHT— WHA T IS IT f 99 

But as he pursued his upward journey, the air, 
according to the present theory, would become 
still more rarefied, and if he were in his normal 
condition, the blood would ooze from every pore 
in his flesh and dissolution, with swift descent 
earthward, would follow. But, preserved by his 
miraculous endowment, he would continue his 
ascent and soon reach a region where the air is 
still more rarefied and the light would begin to 
fade out of it, turning first to a ghastly white, 
then to a steel blue, then to a violet, then to in- 
digo and finally to the blackness of darkness. 
Then too, being marvellously sustained, he would 
find himself intensely cold, in an atmosphere in 
which Icarus might have safely used his waxen 
wings. Nevertheless he would be cheered by a 
faint gleam of light, because the dark rays which 
are streaming towards the earth from the sun 
would be intercepted by his body and he would 
be surrounded by a halo, a slight luminous atmos- 
phere. " However intense a beam of light may 
be," says Tyndall (743, Heat as Motion), " it re- 
mains invisible unless it has something to shine 
upon to reflect it." Again (753), "the blue 
light of the sky is reflected light, and were there 
nothing in our atmosphere competent to reflect the 
solar rays, we should see no blue firmament, but 
should look into the darkness of infinite space." 
Our aerial traveller will soon find himself within 
the resplendent atmosphere of the sun. What 



100 LIGHT- WHA T IS IT f 

force carries the light rays through the " darkness 
of infinite space ? " Let us emphasize this su- 
preme, cardinal fact ; that there is but one indepen- 
dent self-acting force that can accomplish this 
result. That force is the magnetic force. 

If the right of all suns were extinguished the 
planets would still continue, for a time, to rotate 
on their axes and revolve in their orbits. The 
magnetic energy is as potent in total darkness as 
in the most brilliant sunlight. It guides the ship 
as safely at midnight as at noon-day. 



THE EXPERIMENTS OF M. HERTZ. 101 



XIII. 

The Experiments of M. Hertz. 

" The great interest," says M. Joubert, " of M. 
Hertz's experiments lies in the accurate informa- 
tion that we gain from them concerning the inter- 
vention of the external medium in electrical 
phenomena. The idea of this intervention is not 
new. After Faraday's experiments and Maxwell's 
theories, there remained no doubt on this point in 
the minds of physicists ; but the experimental 
proof was wanting. This has now been given by 
M. Hertz. His experiments show particularly 
that the medium which intervenes in electrical 
phenomena is the same ether that forms the seat 
of luminous phenomena ; that the disturbances in 
both kinds are set up under the same conditions 
and with the same rapidity ; and lastly that there 
is identity between certain electrical phenomena 
and the luminous phenomena," a grand fact that 
almost fully answers the long and earnestly pon- 
dered question " what is the ether ? " 

" The effect of an electrical current may be 
represented as follows : Suppose a conducting 



102 THE EXPERIMENTS OE M. HERTZ. 

wire to be connected with any number of elastic 
cords of indefinite length, radiating from all parts 
of its surface. By the passage of a current through 
the wire its force will be exhibited diamagnetically 
and will be imparted to all the cords at their points 
of connection, and they will be drawn forward in 
the direction of the main current and will be 
placed obliquely to it and will so continue as 
long as the current is maintained. When the 
current is withdrawn the cords assume their 
normal position. As the cords are of indefinite 
lengths the electrical effect is extended to any 
distance. ... As we know that time is a function 
in the transmission of currents, the current in this 
case is transmitted to the different cords succes- 
sively." M. Hertz estimates that it would require 
eight minutes to reach the sun, about the velocity 
of light. 

Continuing and varying his experiments M. Hertz 
found that the magnetic electric waves traversed 
walls of stone and passed through the closed door 
of a partition ; that the propagation of the current 
was the same as that of light and that the current 
was subject to the same laws as those of light, 
another grand fact that will aid us still further in 
solving the great mystery as to the nature of the 
ether. As the currents are sent through these 
cords to distances proportioned to the poiver applied, 
it must follow that with infinite power they would 
traverse infinite distances. 



THE EXPERIMENTS OF M. HERTZ. 103 

This action of the currents may be accurately 
represented by the tail of a cat, a highly magnetic 
animal as we have before noted. When the ani- 
mal is in a quiet condition the filaments or fibres 
of fur make a slight angle with the axis of the 
tail, but when the animal becomes greatly excited, 
these fibres immediately assume a position nearly 
at right angles with the axis ; and when the ex- 
citement ceases they assume their normal position. 
Here again, is a natural magnetic force absolutely 
identical in its character and in its action with the 
magneto-electrical force. 

Another of the most singular or rather unique 
discoveries of Hertz, was an electro-ctynamic 
shadow, cast by an iron post, showing that elec- 
tricity, like light, may be refracted. This dis- 
covery may remove ghosts from the category of 
myths, and place them in that of visible but in- 
tangible realities. Perhaps the next step in this 
direction will be the construction of a magneto- 
electro-dynamic lens with which, properly arranged 
in a Kodac case, we may secure counterfeit present- 
ments of the wandering spirits of the night. 

The most significant lesson we learn from M. 
Hertz's experiments, is the very intimate relation 
between, if not identity of, the ether, the mag- 
neto-electric and the luminous forces. 

Concerning the peculiar vibratory discharges of 
the Le} T den Jar, which w^ere long such a mystery 
to physicists, and which have been so well shown 



104 THE EXPERIMENTS OF 31. HERTZ. 

in the recent beautiful experiments of Prof. Hertz, 
it is notable that the late Prof. Joseph Henry 
recognized and demonstrated their action. They 
touch directly the long mooted question of " action 
at a distance," and also the still longer mooted 
question " what is the ether ? " Says Henry,* 
" In extending the researches relative to this part 
of the investigations, a remarkable result was 
obtained in regard to the distance at which induc- 
tive effects are produced by a very small quantity 
of electricity; a single spark from the prime con- 
ductor of a machine of about an inch long, thrown 
on to the end of a circuit of wire in an upper room, 
produced an induction sufficiently powerful to 
magnetize needles in a parallel circuit of iron 
placed in the cellar beneath, at a perpendicular 
distance of thirty feet with two floors and ceilings 
each fourteen inches thick intervening." The 
author, Henry, is disposed to adopt the hypothesis 
of an "electrical-pZgm&m." (Ether, magnetism?) 
Emphatically a plenum, all stellar space being per- 
meated with it and all matter amenable to it. In 
the sequel we give some further illustrations of 
the prevalence and value of magnetic forces. 

* Scientific writings of Joseph Henry, Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, 1886. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 105 



XIV. 

Animal Magnetism. 

We are well aware that scientists, particularly 
Electricians, do not recognize animal magnetism 
as a legitimate branch of science. Nevertheless, 
there is no branch of science the truths of which 
.have been more thoroughly demonstrated by long 
and patient investigations and by almost innu- 
merable and varied experiments. In the sequel we 
have quoted many cases and authorities that 
establish its verity. Our own experience, related 
in the sequel, is a perfect demonstration of its 
existence and action. We are familiar with the 
action of magnets and magneto-electricit}^, and 
therefore speak confidently and understandingly 
on this subject. 

This form of magnetic force — animal magnetism 
— differs somewhat from that exhibited by cata- 
leptics, and the victims of delirium tremens. For 
some years past this force has been most remarka- 
bly manifested by Mrs. Abbott, the Georgia won- 
der, so called, a young woman of petite, delicate 
physique, but sanitarily sound, intelligent and 



106 ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

modest in demeanor. Of course, she can give no 
explanation of the amazing force manifested 
through her slight frame. 

We give a few incidents of her exhibitions 
which have been witnessed by thousands of in- 
terested spectators in all parts of the world. At 
the commencement of an exhibition six or eight 
of the most healthy athletic men in the audience 
are invited on to the stage to act as judges and 
subjects. Any one or all of these may attempt to 
resist the mysterious force under various condi- 
tions. A single person may hold out at arm's 
length a cane or umbrella, and brace himself as 
strongly as possible to maintain his position. By 
simply putting her hands on the cane or umbrella, 
and apparently without making the least physical 
effort she pushes him all about the stage and he 
cannot by any exertion stand still if he wishes to. 
Per contra, Mrs. Abbott will hold out, in the same 
manner, a cane, or in order to make room for more 
persons to grasp it, a billiard cue. Then, standing 
on one foot only she invites them to move her. 
Four stout men, two on each side of the cue, make 
the most determined effort to push or pull her 
from her position. The struggle is vain. Appar- 
ently they could as easily move an iron lamp-post. 
Three strong men hold a chair between them, and 
Mrs. Abbott asks them to press it to the floor. 
They cannot do it. The judges balance them- 
selves on the hind legs of a chair without touch- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 107 

ing it with their hands. Mrs. Abbott with a hand 
on each side of the sitter's head lifts him and the 
chair from the floor. Each sitter declares that he 
feels no hand pressure on his head, and it will be 
borne in mind that he has no hold of the chair. 

These performances were successfully varied. 
We have related them for the purpose of suggest- 
ing an explanation. We have heretofore quoted 
Faraday's statement that, " if a copper disk, sus- 
pended by a long string, is set whirling, and is 
then introduced into the field of an electro-magnet, 
its motion will be instantly arrested and it cannot 
be further rotated in the field." Further rotation 
is impossible except by the destruction of the ap- 
paratus. We have also quoted Helmholtz's state- 
ment, that a copper disk, set in motion in a wood 
frame with multiplying gear and rotated with 
great rapidity, was placed between two pieces of 
iron which did not touch it, being part of the 
armor of an electro-magnet. Turn the current of 
a three-cell battery around the magnet, and the 
pieces of iron act like a break that entirely stops 
the rotation of the disk, and it can only be started 
again by the application of a strong force. 

In both these cases the resistless force that con- 
trols the disks is a magnetic force, pure and simple, 
since there is no contact, no impact, no friction. 
These disks are said to have weighed from one 
quarter to half a pound. They were amenable to 
the magnetism of the earth and the atmosphere 



108 ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 

only. We know the great potency of the terres- 
trial magnetism and that the high magnetic condi- 
tion of oxygen makes atmospheric air a magnetic 
medium of no small power. The emphatic point 
connected with these disks is their fixity under 
the conditions in which they are placed. And in 
this fixity they furnish a striking analogy to the 
phenomena exhibited by Mrs. Abbott. 

As a mass of matter she weighs, instead of a 
quarter or half a pound, about 110 pounds. The 
hair of her head, and every hirsute appendage of 
her body ; all the nerves, muscles and tendons of 
her body, her blood highly charged with oxygen, 
all these are magnetic conductors, more or less 
effective. 

In the case of the disks, when the magneto- 
calorific current is discontinued, their fixity is at 
once removed and their freedom of motion restored. 

What is the motor force that enables the living 
machine to manifest its power? The dynamo 
that does this must be her will. She stands on 
one foot with the billiard cue held, with both 
hands, directly to the front ; it is seized by four 
powerful men who strive desperately, but in vain, 
to move her from her position. She ceases to 
exercise her will, and then either of the men could 
toss her out of the window. 

One man holds a chair horizontally to the front, 
and two others add their strength to his in an effort 
to force the chair to the floor. They do not sue- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM. 109 

ceed while she wills that they shall not. She 
ceases to do so and the chair can be dropped at 
once. 

A heavy man tilts himself back upon the hind 
legs of a chair with his hands folded on his breast. 
She gently places her hands on the sides of his 
head, and without exerting any recognizable press- 
ure, she lifts him, with the chair, nearly breast- 
high from the floor. If she w r ere to remove her 
hands and fully relax her will, if she were to shut- 
off the magneto-calorific current, both man and chair 
would at once fall to the floor. 

There is no opportunity here for legerdemain 
or connivance. The subjects do not know what is 
expected from them until they go upon the stage. 
The conditions for the exercise of the brute force 
— the strength of the men — are of the most favor- 
able character. There is no contact with the cor- 
ners or sides of the room. The abnormal power of 
the woman is exhibited in visible, open space. In 
one case she stands on one foot, like a light 
column standing on one end. And yet the brute 
force applied to the opposite end cannot move it. 



110 THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 



XV. 

The Brain, Its Structure, Functions and Action. 

In addition to the effects of animal magnetism 
heretofore described, we propose now to consider 
the operation of that force as connected with the 
most perfect organism known to us, and especially 
with that most marvellous piece of mechanism which 
dominates it — man and the human brain. Since 
the experiments of Gall and Spurzheim, and more 
particularly of David Ferrier, the structure of the 
brain has been very satisfactorily delineated and 
its functions described. A general indication of 
its parts and their functions is all that is necessary 
for our purpose. 

Concerning a certain "conception" as to the 
" place of the soul," Lotze writes, * " According 
to it, the soul would, at a single point at which its 
activity. had reached its maximum, extend its in- 
fluence directly over all, but with diminished force 
over different parts of the body. Supposing this 
diminution to take place rapidly indeed, yet with 

* Microcosmos, Vol. I. pp. 297, 298, 299. 



THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE. ACTION. HI 

so moderate an acceleration that its effects were 
still perceptible at a sensible distance from the 
maximum point, there is no actual phenomenon 
that favors such a supposition. The afferent oper- 
ation of the sensory, the efferent activity of the 
motor, nerves always cease however near to the 
central organs their connection with these is 
severed, and no trace is ever to be found of any 
direct action of the soul extending outwards even 
so far as to pass over the trifling interval created 
by a fine cut between two immediately adjacent 
elements of a nerve. . . 

" Any one, however, cherishing the hope that more 
minute observation would find some such limited 
seat of the soul could not but acknowledge that it 
has been sought for in a wrong way. Slend- 
der as is a single nerve-fibre, a point of common 
intersection for all could not be an indivisible 
point, must be a cubic space with a diameter of 
quite appreciable magnitude. This space must be 
under the soul's direct control ; within it we would 
not expect to find isolated nerve-filaments con- 
tinued ; their isolation could only serve to bring 
the physical processes taking place in them, with- 
out any intermingling, into the soul's sphere of 
action. When they have arrived there, their 
farther separation is unnecessary ; for in the soul 
itself there are no partition-walls dividing the dif- 
ferent impressions, and it must be capable of hold- 
ing their multitudinous variety, without confusion, 



112 THE BBAIN, STBUCTUBE, ACTION. 

in the unity of its being. This cubic space, the 
seat of the soul (by our supposition, seq., the 
pineal gland), would then have to be conceived 
either as filled up with a parenchyma without 
fibres and somehow homogeneous, throughout 
which nerve-stimulations are propagated in all 
directions, or as a cavity along whose sides, and 
within the distance to which the soul's immediate 
efficiency extends. All the nerve fibres — or a suf- 
ficient select number of them — require to pass 
though not to terminate. . . It — the soul — is in 
direct reciprocal action only with the brain ; there 
accordingly, it has its seat, in the sense which the 
word ought to have." 

In response to this we give the following expo- 
sition of the brain which indicates the pineal gland 
or conarium as the seat of the soul and supplies 
the conditions necessary to its activity. 

The brain fills the whole cavity of the skull. It 
is divided into four principal parts, the cerebrum, 
the cerebellum, the pons-varolii and the medulla- 
oblongata. 

The cerebrum, the upper part of the encephalon, 
occupies the largest part of the cranial cavity ; its 
two halves are called the cerebral hemispheres, and 
are connected %j the great transverse commissure 
known as the corpus-callosum. The cerebrum 
covers the cerebellum and the olfactory lobes. Its 
exterior surface is deeply convoluted, and is trav- 
ersed by many deep furrows or fissures. In some 



THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 113 

of these furrows the arteries are securely imbedded. 
Nature here furnishes us an instructive lesson : she 
puts her pipes underground. The interior of the 
brain is also supplied with an elaborate system of 
connected cavities called ventricles or ccelise. 

The cerebellum lies below the posterior portion 
of the cerebrum, by which it is entirely overlapped, 
and it occupies the lower part of the cranial cavity. 
By certain peduncles it is intimately connected 
with the cerebrum. It is globose in form, and its 
exterior surface, like that of the cerebrum, is con- 
voluted and furrowed, though less deeply and 
more systematically. 

The brain is covered by three membranes, the 
outer — dura, the middle — arachnoid, and the inner 
— pia. The substance of the brain is of two 
kinds, gray, gangliose or cellular nerve-tissue, and 
white, commissural or fibrous nerve-tissue. The 
gray matter forming the outer layer of the cere- 
brum and the cerebellum is also called the cortical 
substance to distinguish it from the white or medul- 
lary substance that constitutes the deeper portions. 
The brain may be designated as a collection of 
ganglia united by white commissures. Besides 
the cortex there are several ganglia or collections 
of gray matter in the interior, as the corpora-striata, 
the optic thalami, the optic lobes or corpora-quadri- 
gemina, the corpora-dentata of the cerebellum and 
the corpora-olivaria of the medulla-oblongata. 

The cortex of the cerebral hemispheres is the 



114 THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 

portion of the brain in which the most complex 
mental co-ordinations are effected, and which is 
most directly involved in mental acts. Certain 
parts of the cortex are called sensory or motor 
centres. But in fact, the cortical or gray sub- 
stance is the principal and beginning of every 
motion in both the cerebrum and cerebellum. 

The corpus striatum is shown to be connected 
with the nervous force passing downward, and the 
optic thalamus with that passing upward; among 
the latter that of sight is connected with the pos- 
terior part of the thalamus. The anterior optic 
lobes are also involved in the sight function and 
the posterior in the auditory. 

The cerebellum is connected with the muscular 
and voluntary actions, while the medulla-oblongata 
contains numerous centres whose functions relate 
to vaso-motor action, cardiac action, respiration, 
deglutition, etc. 

According to Winslow,* the medulla-oblongata 
embraces all that part of the brain which occupies 
the middle portion of the base of the cerebrum 
from front to rear — anterior and posterior — and 
also the middle portion of the cerebrum. It forms 
a medullary base between the cerebrum and the 
cerebellum, common to both and generated by the 
reciprocal continuity of these medullary substances 
and separated from both by the transverse process 

* The Brain, by Swedenborg, quoted by Tafel, p. 302. 



THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 115 

of the dura-mat er. The medulla-oblongata may 
therefore, he says, be justly considered as the third 
general part of the whole mass of the brain, or as 
the common production of the whole medullary 
substance of the cerebrum and the cerebellum. 
Heister (p. 304) considered it as giving origin to 
the spinal marrow and the nerves of the brain. 
The pons-varolii occupies a central portion of the 
base of the brain near the substance of the spinal 
cord, and connects together the three larger parts 
of the brain. Says Quain, " It forms a prominence 
marked by transverse fibres above and in front of 
the medulla-oblongata and between the lateral 
hemispheres of the cerebellum." 

In the lower part of the brain, in the sella-tur- 
cica, lies the hypophysis or pituitary bodj^, a small 
oval, vascular gland having two lobes, its function 
being connected with the lymphatic system in 
purifying and regenerating the blood in its change 
from the veins to the arteries. 

We have reserved to the last a notice of the 
pineal gland, the smallest member of the cranial 
system, but whose importance we believe to be 
inversely proportional to its size. Its location is 
given as follows : * " Between the globose bodies 
of the cerebrum and cerebellum and the medulla- 
oblongata which extends beneath, there is a kind 
of a triangular, medullary space thrust in be- 

* The Brain by Swedenborg, ed. by Tafel, p. 16. 



116 THE BBAIX, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 

tween, which embraces the corpora-quadrigemina, 
the pineal gland, the passages underneath and some 
striated medulla. This space by the ancients was 
called : ' isthmus." It is, in a certain sense, the 
uniting medium between those three bodies : above 
it thrones the cerebrum with its two hemispheres, 
below it rests the cerebellum, and around it, at the 
sides as well as behind, extends the medulla-ob- 
longata. 

It will be remembered that these are the three 
major and most important members of the brain, 
whence, it will be observed, that the gland occupies 
the crowning position in the encephalon, the 
centre of its nervous parts with all which it is 
intimately connected, especially with that most 
important pair of masses the optic thalami. And 
its location in respect of the cerebrum, the royal 
member of the cranial system, is precisely similar 
to that of the oculus fundus of the eye, the most 
sensitive and delicate point in the retina. 

In size, the gland is larger than an average pea, 
and is slightly conical in form, whence it is some- 
times called the conarium. It consists of a num- 
ber of follicles lined by epithelium and connected 
together by ingrowths of connective tissue. 

Lancisi, quoted by Tafel, saj^s that its least 
glandular follicles secrete a lymph and a liquid 
peculiar to the nerves, such that they seem to con- 
stitute a peculiar cortex of a diminutive brain, and 
that, for this and other reasons, we may, without 



THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 117 

any injustice, call the pineal gland the cerebellum 
of the cerebrum itself. 

While the functions of all other parts of the 
brain have been satisfactorily determined, such is 
not the case as to the conarium. In late researches 
by H. de Graff and Mr. Baldwin Spencer they en- 
deavor to show that, in certain animals, it repre- 
sents part of a rudimentary visual apparatus. 

The gland is so diminutive in size, so difficult 
to reach, so impossible, successfully to vivisect, if 
we may use the term, that little has been learned 
of its functional character. The only other method 
of learning something about it, is by post-mortems. 
But even this field is wonderfully barren. We 
have been unable to add to the two cases reported 
by Tafel. One was that of a man in middle life, 
a simpleton who stammerech The cerebrum was 
found to be white and compact like curd, the col- 
losum a little hard and the gland shrunken to the 
size of a hemp seed. The other case w T as that of a 
virgin twenty years old, who, after six months of 
great suffering from pains in the head became 
blind, was gradually deprived of all her senses and 
died in great agony. The gland had grown to the 
size of a hen's egg and was petrified. 

Now, from what we know of rudimentary bodies 
in other animals, they possess no such facility of 
extreme contraction or expansion, nor are they 
permeated with follicles charged with an abundance 
of nerve matter and nerves. Nature has already 



118 THE BRAIN, S TR UCTURE, A CTION. 

reduced rudimentary members to their least dimen- 
sions and their minimum activity. Their nerves 
are as rudimentary as their physical substance and 
cannot be subject to acute pain such as was suf- 
fered by the young woman whose gland was en- 
larged and ossified. 

From its peculiar position, its abundant supply 
of nerve matter and nerves, and its firm attach- 
ment to the sensory centres of feeling and emo- 
tion, we may be permitted to conclude that the 
pineal gland is more effective in developing feel- 
ing and emotion than any other portion of the 
brain, that indeed, its special function is to develop 
and express the sublimest emotion of which the 
soul is capable, that of adoration, worship. Its 
intimate attachment to the optic thalami is pecul- 
iarly indicative of this emotion, the first prompt- 
ing of it being to raise the eyes heavenward as in 
the act of devotion. 

" Prayer is the burden of a sigh, 
The falling of a tear, 
The upward glancing of an eye 
When none but God is near." 

This gland may furnish another illustration of 
the correctness of Sir Isaac Newton's statement 
that small magnets are more powerful in propor- 
tion to their mass than larger ones. The conarium 
is the smallest of the cranial bodies ; it may be 
capable of producing the sublimest emotions. It 



THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 119 

was a reasonable conjecture of Galen and Descartes 
that the conarium was the seat of the soul. 

In the domestic animals which have the cona- 
rium fully developed and are still entire strangers 
to the feeling of reverence, that feeling may be 
superseded by a sentiment of terror. When such 
animals are greatly frightened, prompted by fear, 
they seek safety in flight, but when they are 
stricken with terror they are incapable of volun- 
tary motion and may be easily slaughtered. They 
are so overcome with a feeling of awe that they 
are entirely helpless. We have almost daily ex- 
perience of the difficulty of removing horses or 
any other domestic animals from burning build- 
ings. 

In wild animals, beasts of prey which are 
savage and fearless, the feeling of awe or terror 
may be superseded by feelings of hatred or vindic- 
tiveness. Their controlling desire seems to be to 
attack and destroy every living creature they 
encounter. In no case do we find reasonable evi- 
dence that the conarium is a rudimentary organ. 

The chief substance of the brain is the w^hite 
and gray matter, constituting nerves, nerve-cells, 
fibres, corpuscles, vesicles, ganglia, etc. The 
nerve fibres are principally of the class termed 
white or tubular nerve fibres. The number of 
them forming the white substance of the brain is 
counted by hundreds of millions. The nerve cells, 
vesicles or ganglionic corpuscles are little bodies 



120 THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 

of a variety of forms. The corpuscles occurring 
in the nervous substance must also, like the nerve 
fibres, be numbered by the million. The gray 
matter of which these corpuscles is composed is 
considered as the seat of nervous energy, which is 
conveyed to all parts of the system.* 

All portions of the brain are united by innumer- 
able nerves, fibres, fascicules, processes and com- 
missures which anastomose through and inosculate 
with each other in the most thorough manner. 

" There is," says Ferrier,f " practically no limit 
to the number of associated combinations of 
sensory and motor elements. Sensory centres 
form organic association with other sensory 
centres ; motor centres with motor centres ; sen- 
sory centres, simple and in complex association, 
with simple or complex association of motor 
centres. In this variety and complexity of perma- 
nent modification and organic cohesions between 
the sensory and motor centres of the hemispheres, 
we have the basis of all intellect and volitional 
acquisitions. Each motor centre may enter into 
organic associations with each and every sensory 
centre, each definite association being the repre- 
sentation of some consciously determined act." 

The sensori-motor functions of the brain have 
been quite accurately determined. Those parts 
upon which the five senses depend, sight, hearing, 

* Bain, Senses and Intellect, pp. 13, 14. 
t Functions of the Brain, pp. 437, 438. 



THE BRAIN, STRUCTURE, ACTION. 121 

taste, touch and smell, are well known. We have 
ventured to suggest the distinct and supreme 
function of the conarium, the latest scientific term 
for the pineal gland. 

Permeating certain spaces between different 
constituents of the brain and indispensable to its 
action is a fluid that Quain calls " a very limpid 
serous fluid which occupies the subarachnoid 
space," and Magendie states that this " subarach- 
noid fluid exists not only in the cerebral canal but 
also within the cranium, in which it fills up all 
the space between the brain and the dura-mater.* 
Furthermore as we learn from Bain,f "both the 
nerve fibres and the nerve cells are largely sup- 
plied with blood, without which they would be 
lifeless and incapable of action. An important 
function of the corpuscles of the nerve cells is 
that they form the grand junction or crossings 
where the fibres communicate with each other and 
establish a vast system of lateral and forward 
connection necessary to the co-ordinating and con- 
centrating movements and sensations in the bodily 
mechanism associated with mind. £ 

" The machine-like nature of much of the struct- 
ure and movement of the human body," says 
Ladd, § " does not escape the most ordinary ob- 

* Tafel : The Brain, p. 350. 

f Senses and Intellect, p. 16. 

X Brain, Senses and Intellect, p. 17. 

§ Elements of Physiological Psychology, pp. 214, 215. 



122 THE BRAIN, ETC. 

servation. When this body as a whole or in re- 
spect of some of its parts, changes its position in 
space, its various masses support and act upon 
each other in essentially the same manner as the 
masses which compose the parts of any machine 
constructed by human skill. Such movement is 
possible for it because its frame-work of bones has 
a rigidity sufficient to sustain the less rigid organs ; 
and because the bones are so divided and yet 
articulated that they can assume different rela- 
tions toward one another in accordance with the 
simplest principles of mechanics. The laws of 
the lever, of the pulley, the ball and socket joint, 
etc., need no modification when applied to this 
particular machine of the human bod}^. The 
action of certain other of its parts which do not 
belong to the bony framework, but which are of 
muscular or epithelial structure, is also plainly 
of the same machine-like character. The move- 
ment of the heart, for example, is in part to be 
explained as that of a pump with chambers and 
valves, and the flow of the blood through the 
arteries is that of a fluid pumped through conduits 
of unlike and changeable sizes. So, too, the lungs 
may be, with considerable propriety, compared to 
bellows which alternately suck in and expel the 
surrounding atmosphere." The optical and audi- 
tory nerves are mechanical in their action, and 
the distribution of fluids through the tissues of 
the body is also a mechanical process. Another 



THE BRAIN, ETC. 123 

mechanical apparatus is exhibited in the system 
of secretory organs by which the joints and artic- 
ulations of the bones, tendons and muscles are 
constantly and effectually lubricated. 

We have thus described in a very general way, 
the arrangement of nerves, muscles, tendons, fibres, 
tissues and ganglia, and the frame-work of articu- 
lated bones which constitute the human body, the 
human machine. But they would all be ineffect- 
ive, useless, as before noted, without the presence 
of the blood. And the most efficient elements of 
the blood are iron and oxygen, the two most mag- 
netic substances known. Thus the blood may, 
not inappropriately, be called fluid magnetism. 
By virtue of that fluidity it permeates and physi- 
cally vitalizes every part of the human structure. 
The functional activity of the brain, the nerves, 
and in fact of every portion of the system is de- 
pendent upon it. 

What is the* psj^chic force, the motor power 
that operates this wonderful machine ? By our 
hypothesis it is the will of God operating through 
certain agencies in pursuance of certain laws. 
There is an inherent, inherited divinity, a spiritual 
force in our nature. It is fundamental, under- 
lying, comprehensive, stimulating and directly aid- 
ing the development of the will and all our con- 
sciousness, all our feelings, emotions and senti- 
ments. Primarily it is entirely independent of 



124 THE BRAIN, ETC. 

experience, but experience is a cardinal factor in 
its growth and activity. 

We have seen that all parts of the brain are con- 
nected with each other by innumerable nerves, 
fibres, fascicles, ganglia and tissues, and that all the 
members of the body are connected with the brain 
in a similar manner, and with each other by the ad- 
dition of muscles, tendons and sinews. The most 
important of the brain nerves are those connected 
with the cortical system which are distributed from 
the brain through the cerebellum and the cerebro- 
spinal axis to the extremities and all other parts 
of the body. 

" The structure of the nervous substances, " says 
Bain, * " and the experiments made upon the nerves 
and nerve centres, establish beyond doubt certain 
peculiarities as belonging to the force that is ex- 
ercised by the brain. This force is of a current 
nature ; that is to saj r , a power generated at one 
part of the structure is conveyed along an in- 
tervening substance and discharged at some other 
part. The different forms of eleetricity and mag- 
netism have made us familiar with this kind of 
action. . . . This portable or current character 
of the nerve force is what enables movements dis- 
tant from one another in the body to be associated 
together under a common stimulus." 

The evidence is overwhelming that all the nerves, 
muscles, tendons, sinews and tissues of the body are 

* The Senses and the Intellect, p. 48. 



THE BRAIN, ETC. 125 

good magnetic conductors. The currents which 
traverse them are differently designated as afferent — 
in-carrying ; efferent — out-carrying ; inhibitory — ■ 
intermitting or checking; accelerating — constant 
or increasing. These conductors are excited and 
stimulated in like manner with any others, and in 
like manner, and under the same conditions, they 
respond. Says Ferrier,* among the foremost of 
craniologists, " Galvanic stimiuus gives shocks ; 
the faradic stimulus continuous stimulation. If 
the chief object be to secure efficient stimulation, 
to call forth in a decided and distinct manner the 
functional activity of the part to which the elec- 
trodes are applied, it would matter little whether 
we used the galvanic or faradic stimulus, provided 
they were both equally suitable for the purpose. 
But this is not the case. Not only a certain in- 
tensity but a certain direction of the stimulus is 
necessary to produce the characteristic effect." 

Concerning the summation of stimuli in the 
nerve tract " the law" says James,f " is this, that 
a stimulus which would be inadequate by itself to 
excite a nerve centre to effective discharge may, 
by acting with one or more other stimuli (equally 
ineffective by themselves alone) bring the dis- 
charge about. . . . Single stimuli entirely in- 
efficacious when alone may become efficacious by 
sufficiently rapid reiteration." This is precisely 

* Functions of the Brain, p. 225. 
f Psychology, Vol. I., p. 82. 



126 THE BRAIN, ETC. 

what occurs in artificial currents. Single con- 
ductors placed side by side accumulate strength, 
and a given current is increased in power by rapid 
impact. Ferrier also notes the fact that the gray 
matter of the cortex, like nerve centres in general, 
is capable of storing up and responding to a suc- 
cession of stimuli individually insufficient to excite 
action. 

" With respect to neutral molecular disturb- 
ances," writes Ladd, " all nerves are excitable, 
conductors of excitation and exciters of nerve cells 
and muscle fibres." According to our hypothesis 
the most potent " exciter " in all cases is the mag- 
netic force. We have abundant evidence that all 
nerves, muscles, tendons, sinews, fibres and fluids 
in all living organisms are amenable to and directly 
acted upon by this force. 

Instead, then, of attributing the vis-viva of the 
brain and the body to the influence of " nerve ex- 
citers," "muscle stimuli," "afferent" or "effer- 
ent," " inhibitory " or " accelerating " currents, how 
much more accordant with the facts would it be to 
recognize by its proper name the force that pro- 
duces the result, — the magnetic force, and hence 
magnetic currents. 



THE HEART, ITS ACTION. 127 



XVI. 
The Heart, Its Functions and Action. 

The arrangement of the brain, bones, flesh and 
blood exhibited in the healthy man present a most 
perfect and admirable model of a magneto-calorific 
machine. And it is interesting to trace out its 
physical modus operandi. 

We begin with the heart as its dynamo. By its 
protected nerve-wires it is connected with the 
brain and with every part of the body. The nerves 
of the cortical system are the largest and longest, ex- 
tending mainly up and down from the brain through 
the trunk and to the extremities of the limbs. From 
their responses to the magnetic force we conclude 
that they are paramagnetic, and that the innumer- 
able commissures and fibres that traverse the brain 
and the ganglia which compose its substance are 
diamagnetic and diffuse the force in all directions. 
The heart furnishes the kind and degree of stim- 
ulus necessary to operate the machine. " But the 
rate of the heart beats " says Ferrier,* " is subject 
to variation through certain nerves connecting it 

* Functions of the Brain, p. 98. 



128 THE HEART, ITS ACTION. 

with the medulla oblongata ; one set of nerves in- 
hibiting or restraining, the other accelerating or 
increasing the heart's action." Thus these inhib- 
itory nerves of the heart which "run in the trunks 
of the vagi or pneumogastric nerves " serve as a 

rheostat to produce rhythmical respiration 

" The accelerator nerves reach the heart through 
the last cervical and first dorsal ganglia of the 
sympathetic." Both these sets of nerves can be 
excited by various stimuli. By the joint action of 
the two sets the heart becomes a veritable rheotem 
with its systematic and rhythmatic diastole and 
sistole. 

In artificial conductors we know that the mag- 
netic force can be intensified so as to produce 
warmth, heat, flame, fusion and gaseous dissipation, 
the effect being proportioned to the intensity of 
the friction. In like manner when the magnetic 
force is coursing through the various nerves of the 
system, if it is checked, if a lesion occurs, the 
troubled nerve at once signifies it to the brain. A 
slight interruption may produce some uneasiness ; 
one more decided, more or less depression, mental 
anxiety ■ one still still more emphasized, a severe 
lesion, produces pain ; as this increases it is com- 
municated to other adjoining nerves until finally 
great distress and agony are experienced. 

On the other hand, when the whole system is 
in perfect order, all the members, nerves and 
muscles working healthfully and harmoniously, 



THE HEART, ITS ACTION. 129 

the blood flowing free and pure, the mind agree- 
ably and sedulously occupied, then the exaltation 
of spirit is at its maximum ; a genial flow and 
glow of feeling quickens the pulse, stimulates the 
senses and gladdens the heart. 

Magnetic action is induced in several ways ; by 
friction, induction and impact or rapping. Man 
being a magnetic animal every step he takes, every 
motion of his body or limbs, every movement of 
his joints excites the magnetic stimulus. We 
have quoted Ferrier's statement that the gray mat- 
ter and nerve cells are capable of storing up this 
stimulus. This is done when mind and body are 
at rest, and especially in sleep. In healthful 
sleep the mind, body, nerves and muscles are com- 
paratively at rest ; the circulation of the blood is 
slower, as are also the pulsations of the heart which 
become more regular, rhythmic. Every throb acts 
as an impact or rap that increases the magnetic 
force and stores it up in the body. When the 
physical frame is sufficiently rested and fully re- 
charged with magnetism the subject awakes. 
Then the first motory prompting is to yawn and 
stretch his limbs. Thereby the pulsations of the 
heart and the circulation of the blood are both 
quickened and he rises refreshed and invigorated 
in body and mind and with renewed elasticity of 
spirit. And no person can deprive himself of this 
needful rest and recuperation of mind and body 
without consequent suffering and abridgment of 



130 THE HEART, ITS ACTION. 

the period of life. The heart-dynamo will be stead- 
fast and faithful in the performance of its duty so 
long as its powers are not overtasked. And in 
this connection it may be interesting to consider 
the task that the living heart accomplishes in a 
stated time. 

In mechanics the work done by a machine is 
usually estimated — by Grove's method — in foot- 
pounds, that is the number of pounds the machine 
can raise through one foot, or the number of feet 
that the machine can raise one pound, i. e., the 
work equals the weight multiplied by the height. 
The work accomplished by the heart in twenty-four 
hours can be estimated approximately in the same 
way. It amounts to 138 foot-tons, that is, the 
heart performs in twenty-four hours an amount of 
mechanical work equivalent to that of a machine 
that will raise, during the same time, 138 tons 
through one foot, or one ton through 138 feet.* 

In closing it may be well to correct some erro- 
neous, impressions concerning the function of this 
cardinal organ. In every civilized language the 
heart is characterized in many phrases with many 
adjectives. They are incorporated, embalmed as it 
were, in the literature of every nation. There are 
" feeling," " generous," " bold," " brave," " kind," 
"warm," " cold," " faint," "true," " false," " bleed- 
ing," " broken," " confiding," " doubting," and 
" ravished," hearts, besides an innumerable multi- 

* Chapman. Human Physiology, p. 281. 



THE HEART, ITS ACTION. 131 

tude of loved and loving hearts. Indeed love and 
loving hearts are the invariable constants in the 
varying phrases and phases ol every tongue. They 
are all very fine, very expressive, very poetic, very 
romantic. Romance would perish and love would 
go into perpetual mourning if they were expurgated 
from the literature of the world. 

Nevertheless, they are intrinsically only poetic 
and romantic. The heart is not a seat of conscious- 
ness. It has no sense, no feeling, except of a 
neural character. Its sensitiveness is intense by 
reason of its near and strong connection with the 
brain. It is easily and strongly affected and 
agitated. It is literally and emphatically a stout 
heart, since we learn from Ferrier * that " the 
heart muscles contract rhythmically on stimula- 
tion apart from all nerves and ganglia. It will 
beat rhythmically after complete severance of all 
its cerebro-spinal connections, or even after being 
removed from the body." Hence it may happen 
that the faithful heart may continue to beat after 
the brain is dead. 

* Functions of the Brain . p e 98. 



132 GASES. 



XVIL 

Gases. 

Hitherto in considering the nature and proper- 
ties of magnetism and electricity, we have confined 
ourselves mainly to their relation to and their 
action with liquids and solids. It is now proposed 
to consider them in their connection with a very 
different form of matter — the gases. 

As early as 1823, Faraday liquified various 
gaseous bodies by pressure alone, and later, in 
1845,* he condensed still others that were more 
refractory, by cold and pressure. According to 
Boyle's law, the pressure exercised by a given mass 
of gas varies inversely as the volume of the space 
within which it is confined, or, the space occupied 
by a given quantity of gas varies inversely as the 
pressure. All gases, except one, are unsaturated 
vapors since they can all be condensed by simultane- 
ous application of sufficient cold and sufficient press- 
ure, confirming Faraday's conclusion that " every 
gas could probably be liquified by the combined 
influence of cooling and pressure, could we extend 

*Phil. Trans., p. 155. 



GASES. 133 

them sufficiently far." u No man," says Boyle,* 
" perhaps yet knows how near to an infinite com- 
pression the air may be capable of if the compress- 
ing force be competently increased" 

Independent of the sudden changes produced by 
the action of chemical. affinity, gaseous and liquid 
forms of matter may be transformed into one 
another by a series of continuous and unbroken 
changes.f Careful experiments in condensing 
gases were made by Cailletet and Pictet in 1878. 
The latter, after liquifying oxygen at a pressure 
which became constant at 475 atmospheres, on 
opening the stop-cock at the end of the tube con- 
taining it, saw a lustrous jet of liquid oxygen issue 
with great violence, whilst around it was a haze of 
particles of solid oxygen. In a subsequent experi- 
ment, the presence of solid particles in the jet of 
liquid oxygen was confirmed by illuminating it 
with polarized light. After subjecting hydrogen 
gas to a pressure of 650 atmospheres, on opening 
the stop-cock a steel-blue colored, opaque jet of 
liquid hydrogen rushed out with a hissing noise, 
and at the same time a rattling was heard, as if 
small shot or hail had fallen on the ground. 

If the gaseous form of a substance be com- 
pressed or cooled so far that any further condensa- 
tion or cooling will cause the disposition of some 
of it in the liquid form, it is said to be a vapor. 

* Tait, Prop, of Matter, p. 162. 

f Andrews's Scientific Papers, p. 317. 



134 GASES. 

The term vapor is often applied in a wider sense 
to the gaseous form of a liquid or solid substance — 
as, for instance, ether-vapor, chloroform-vapor and 
others.* 

If hydrogen can be condensed into a liquid or 
solid it would seem that it can be expanded into 
ether or some infinitesimal element. 

Bancalari first discovered the fact that, on the 
interposition of a gas or candle flame between the 
poles of an electro-magnet, the flame was instantly 
repulsed when the electric current was closed, to 
return to its first position the instant it was broken. 
The same result would have followed if natural 
magnets had been substituted in the place of elec- 
tro-magnets. Zantedeschi, in verifying Bancalari's 
experiments, found that this repulsion of the flame 
happened with contacts of both solid and hollow 
soft iron, and he was convinced that it was an im- 
mediate action of the magnetism on the flame ; " a 
fact," declares Faraday, " of the greatest impor- 
tance to science," as it truly is ; for it proves, in 
this case, that the action of the natural magnet 
and of the electro-magnet is precisely the same, 
and this further proves, if such proof were neces- 
sary, that they are identical in character.-}- 

Another most important and abundant of the 
gases, the lightest of them except hydrogen, is am- 
monia. Its specific gravity is -76, that of hydrogen 

* Daniel, Principles of Physics, p. 216. 
f Exp. Res., pp. 491, 492. 



GASES. 135 

being '70. It may be extracted in great abundance 
from gas-liquor, and largely, also, from all urinary 
and organic secretions and excretions, as well as 
from decayed animal and vegetable matter. When 
pure, it will not only not support combustion, but 
its hydro-carbonate, carbonate and sulphate read- 
ily yield incombustible gases which possess the 
positive quality of extinguishing combustion; of 
course, it is opaque to heat. If inhaled pure, it is 
fatal to animal life. One volume of water will 
absorb or dissolve 500 volumes of it. Hence its 
abundance, under certain conditions, in aqueous 
vapor. 

Hydrogen also occupies an important place in 
nearly all organic substances. It constitutes, by 
volume, two of the three parts of water. Water, 
as vapor, occupies 1,700 times more space than 
when in the liquid state at ordinary temperatures. 
Aqueous vapor is continually ascending into the 
air, and, by reason of its solvent properties, parti- 
cles of many other substances are carried into the 
air and distributed over the earth. The spectro- 
scope reveals hydrogen largely in the corona and 
chromosphere of the sun, and Father Secchi holds 
that it constitutes the principal element of a nu- 
merous class of stars, and is also found in me- 
teorites. 

Nitrogen is another important constituent of 
animal and vegetable life, and it also occurs, though 
not abundantly, in the mineral kingdom. It pos- 



136 GASES. 

sesses no active properties ; is, like ammonia, in- 
combustible, and does not support combustion, and, 
consequently, will not, when pure, support respira- 
tion. It does not enter into direct combination 
with any element except oxygen, and, by the elec- 
tric spark, with titanium, tungsten, and one or two 
other substances, It is a remarkable fact that two 
gases, neither of which will support life contin- 
uously, yet, when mechanically mixed in certain 
proportions, compose the healthful air we breathe, 
and without which we could not live : and, in a 
certain other slightly varied proportion, form 
"laughing-gas," the breathing of which affords the 
most delightful sensations. As to its magnetism, 
Faraday characterizes it (§ 2860) as being a very 
indifferent body, neither paramagnetic nor diamag- 
netic, but zero or neutral. 

Among the important results concerning the 
diffusion of gases, as reported by Tait,* is the fact 
that, the higher we ascend from the earth, the 
more nitrogen and the less oxygen we find. 

Another most essential element both as a gas and 
in its denser form of charcoal or graphite, is car- 
bon, which occurs in great abundance and in a 
great variety of forms and combinations. It is the 
only element always present in animal and vege- 
table substances. Cook — Chemical Philosophy — 
describes it as " one of the most widely diffused and 
one of the most important elements in the scheme 

* Recent Advances in Physical Science. 



GASES. 137 

of terrestial nature. United to the three aeriform 
elements, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, it forms 
the chief solid substance of all organic structures. 
Combined with oxygen it forms the carbonic 
dioxide of the atmosphere which is the food of the 
whole vegetable world." In the crust of the earth 
it is found in large measures of coal and petroleum, 
and is an essential constituent of the limestones 
and dolomites. The spectroscope also reveals it as 
one of the most important constituents of comets. 
It is a good conductor of electricity in all its forms 
except as crystallized in the diamond, which is a 
poor conductor. 

But by far the most interesting, most indispen- 
sable of all gases in its properties and its predomi- 
nant efficacy in all the processes of nature is oxygen. 
" The magnetic constitution of oxygen," says Fara- 
day (§ 2966) " seems to me wonderful. "It is in 
the air tohat iron is in the earth. Its power in 
specific magnetism is plus 1.181. Hence oxygen 
in the air exercises a remarkable amount of mag- 
netic force, especially since its magnetic condition 
is greatly altered by variations in its density and 
in its temperature" (§ 2796). 

It is stated by Prof. Dewar * that he placed a 
quantity of liquid oxygen in the state of rapid 
ebullition in air (and therefore in a temperature of 
181° C.) between the poles of the historic Faraday 
magnet in a cup-shaped pan of rock salt (which is 

*" Notes," Nature, Dec. 17, 1891. 



138 GASES, 

not moistened by liquid oxygen and therefore keeps 
it in a spheroidal state), and to his surprise Prof. 
Dewar saw the liquid oxygen, as soon as " the 
magnet was stimulated, suddenly leap up to the 
poles and remain there permanently attracted until 
it evaporated." 

Though a gas it is apparently like the solid 
metals, iron, nickel and cobalt, when they are in the 
range of temperature which affects their magnetic 
forces, and it may, like them, perhaps, rise by cool- 
ing to a very high state. It is a singular fact that 
iron can only be permanently magnetized with the 
aid or in the presence of oxygen, as in steel. It is 
a little more than one-tenth heavier than air, and 
ice-cold water will hold in solution more than four 
per cent, of its volume while water at 68° F. will 
only hold less than three per cent., a fact that proves 
that lowering its temperature increases its density. 
" It is to an enormous degree the most abundant, 
as it is in many respects the most important, of the 
elements of matter upon the earth. The only 
other element that can compare with it in abun- 
dance is silicon, the special element of mineral 
silicates. It constitutes nearly, if not quite half 
the total weight of known matter, and silicon not 
far from one-third. Of water, the liquid part of the 
earth, oxygen forms a still larger proportion or eight- 
ninths. Of living matter, vegetable and animal, 
oxygen also forms by far the largest element.* 

* H. Wortz, Johnson's Cyclopedia, Art. Oxygen. 



GASES. 139 

As the question of color may have some interest 
as connected with the final development of our 
scheme we may note some of its more important 
characteristics as revealed in the spectrum of the 
solar rays and also in the spectra of some of the 
gases. From Mosotti we learn that the greatest il- 
luminating power is found in the yellow, the cen- 
tral color of what were formerly called the three 
primary colors, blue, yellow, and red, and that the 
intensity declines systematically on either side. 
Its penetrating power is also greatest making it 
serviceable for signals. Incandescent metals, and 
rarefied gases enclosed in glass tubes (Geisler's) 
when made luminous by the electric spark, re- 
vealed hydrogen as purple red, chlorine, magnesium 
and thallium different shades of green, and sodium 
yellow, and nitrogen blue or purple. Some recent 
experiments have shown the color of liquid oxygen 
to be a beautiful blue. The substance that pro- 
duces a peculiar green line in the aurora, the zodi- 
acal light and the corona of the sun is, as yet, un- 
known. It may here be noted that Langley and 
Very * found the spectrum of the Italian firefly — 
Pyrophorus Noctilucus — to be of maximum brill- 
iancy in the green. The luminous power of gases 
increases in proportion to the pressure to which 
they are subjected, by which their density is in- 
creased,! as we have before noted. 

* Silliman's Journal, Vol. 40, 3d Series, p. 102. 
\ Schellen, Spec. Anal., p. 15. 



140 STELLAR SYSTEMS. 



XVIII. 

Stellar Systems and Celestial Geography. 

Haying thus studied the forces of nature and 
ascertained their various forms and properties we 
have now to consider their application and use in 
the construction of stellar systems and a celestial 
geography. 

From the earliest dawn of human intelligence 
the stars have furnished the most absorbing and 
fascinating field of study and speculation. Both 
in tradition and recorded history their influence 
has been recognized, and they have been supposed 
to be potent in their courses in deciding the desti- 
nies of individuals and nations, whether striving 
against the enemies of Israel among the hills of 
Judea or guiding the shepherds to the birthplace 
of the Saviour. 

Supposed to be infinite in number and unchange- 
ably fixed in their positions in the celestial vault, 
it has also been supposed that they were arranged 
in some orderly system and subjected to some dy- 
namic laws. Hence many hypotheses concerning 



STELLAR SYSTEMS. 141 

the structure of the universe have been suggested. 
All hypotheses fill space with some form of matter, 
of atoms or molecules. These are supposed to 
be constantly in motion ; some in all directions 
like snowflakes in a whirlwind, some in fixed direc- 
tions like drops of rain in a gentle shower ; that 
they possess certain affinities, that they attract or 
repel each other, and that they are forced into 
different forms and conditions, gaseous, gelati- 
nous, aqueous, viscous or solid. 

The stellar system which has been most favor- 
ably received is that of Laplace, Kant and 
Herschel, founded on the nebular theory, that all 
suns and planets are agglomerations of nebulous 
matter, the nebulae themselves being aggregations 
of molecules or atoms in the most attenuated 
possible forms of matter, which are subject to 
certain attractive and repulsive, cohesive and dis- 
ruptive forces, which decide their shapes and con- 
trol their motions. 

Some years after the publication of Kant's sys- 
tem an original and more elaborate one was set 
forth by Johannes H. Lambert, a lucid synopsis of 
which — not being able to find his original work 
— I copy from Prof. Newcomb's Popular Astron- 
omy. 

" He supposes the universe to be arranged in 
systems of different orders. The smallest systems 
which we know are those made up of a planet with 
its satellites circulating around it as a centre. 



142 STELLAR SYSTEMS. 

The next system in the order of magnitude is a 
solar system, in which a number of smaller systems 
are each carried around the sun. Each individual 
star which we see is a sun, and has its retinue of 
planets revolving around it, so that there are as 
many solar systems as stars. These systems are 
not, however, scattered at random, but are divided 
up into greater systems which appear in our tele- 
scopes as clusters of stars. An immense number of 
these clusters make up our galaxy and form the 
visible universe as seen in our telescopes. There 
may be yet greater systems each made up of gal- 
axies, and so on indefinitely, only their distance is so 
immense as to elude our observation." " Each of 
the smaller systems visible to us has its central 
body, the mass of which is much greater than that 
of those which revolve round it/' This feature 
Lambert supposed to extend to other systems. 
" As the planets are larger than their satellites and 
the sun larger than its planets, so he supposed each 
stellar cluster to have a great central body around 
which each solar system revolved. As these cen- 
tral bodies are invisible to us, he supposed them to 
be opaque and dark. All the systems from the 
smallest to the greatest were supposed to be bound 
together by the one universal law of gravita- 
tion." 

This system is adversely criticised, quite decid- 
edly by Prof. Newcomb, and more mildly by 
Father Secchi, criticisms which we hope to show 



STELLAR SYSTEMS. 143 

are erroneous, and that, on the contrary, the hy- 
pothesis contains the germ of a far more sublime 
stellar cosmography. 

As science, in the department of magnetism and 
electricity, is more indebted to Faraday than to 
any other physicist, so it is in the department of 
astronomy more indebted to the investigations and 
labors of Sir William Herschel than to those of 
any other astronomer. The Columbus of the 
skies, with his telescope-ship he traversed with per- 
sistent zeal and keen intelligence the celestial seas 
of space, and discovered for mankind its first new 
world, together with the numerous nebulous island- 
groups scattered in all directions around it. He 
taught us how other worlds may be built up, how 
we may watch their birth and growth and proxi- 
mately determine their age, from the youthful 
star that has not yet reached the period of scintil- 
lation to the adult sun that, with resplendent 
glory, " sweeps in triumph through the signs of 
heaven." 

He insisted on the existence of matter diffused 
through space, out of which the nebulae were prob- 
ably formed; and he noticed the fact, which all 
astronomers have done, that the southern hemi- 
sphere is less richly provided with stars than the 
northern ; and we are led to the conclusion that not 
only in appearance but in fact the stars are more 
dense near the galaxy. Among the multitude of 
nebulae revealed by his telescope he believed that 



144 STELLAR SYSTEMS. 

every stage of the process (of growth) might be 
considered as displayed to our eyes, and in every 
modification of form to which the general principle 
might be conceived to apply. The more or less 
advanced stage of a nebulae towards its segregation 
into discrete stars, and these stars themselves 
towards a dense state of aggregation round a central 
nucleus, would thus be in some sort an indica- 
tion of age.* 

These changes were especially notable in the 
Magellanic clouds or nubecula — note wdbeculae, 
not nebulae — the former being immense fields of 
Stardust in which the latter appear in a more con- 
densed form. These remarkable regions of cloud- 
light lie in the southeastern portion of the firma- 
ment, and present almost every stage of stellar 
development from the motes of star-dust floating 
in space to the largest and most resplendent sun.f 

The spectroscope has very materially enlarged 
our knowledge of the nebulae by showing that 
the spectra of some of them have characteristics 
belonging to the spectra of gases ; others have the 
equally characteristic spectra peculiar to glowing 
solids ; while in a third class may be placed all 
those whose spectra combine the characteristics of 
both the preceding classes, % 

* Sir J. Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy, p. 504. 
f Sir J. Herschel, Outlines of Astronomy. 
% H. Abbe, Art. " Nebulae," Johnson's Cyc. 



COMETS, DUST OF TIME. 145 



XIX. 

Zodiacal Light. — Comets, Dust of Time. — Spec- 
trum of Gras Flame. 

"It is generally agreed," says Mr. Alexander 
Winchell,* " that this phenomenon * arises from a 
ring of meteoroidal bodies encircling the sun, 
nearly in the plane of the ecliptic and probably 
rotating like the rings of Saturn. But considering 
that the phenomenon has been so frequently 
witnessed in the east and west at the same time, it 
is necessary to assume that while most of the mat- 
ter lies within the earth's orbit, some portion ex- 
tends beyond that limit. Accordingly the earth 
moves within this assemblage of particles. Conse- 
quently, unless they have the same velocity as the 
earth, they must by their collisions offer a resist- 
ance to the earth's motion." 

COMETS. 

" Whence comes the ' Dust of Time ' ? There 
is nothing around which the dust of time does not 

*In his admirable and exhaustive work, " World-Life 01 
Comparative Geology." 
f The Zodiacal Light. 
10 



146 COMETS, BUST OF TIME. 

gather. It accumulates among the shelters of 
mountain cliffs. It falls upon ivy-mantled towers 
and ruined walls, and creates a rooting-place for 
many a hardy herb and a nidus for countless living 
germs. It clogs the water-passages from our roofs, 
and fills our cisterns with soils yielded by the 
atmosphere. It gathers about deserted structures ; 
it buries the foundations of columns and temples, 
and new temples are built upon foundations be- 
neath them Whence the dust which has 

buried walls and towers and cities ? . . . . Much 
of the soil which gathers upon roofs and in the 
crevices of old walls has been lifted by the winds 
from bare field and dusty street. Even the 
snowy summits of the Alps become stained by 
terrestrial particles borne by upward currents into 
the mountain air. And yet I will venture the 
opinion that some dust comes to the earth daily 
which had never belonged to the earth before. Out 
from the depths of space — beyond the clouds — 
beyond the atmosphere — from a granary of mate- 
rial germs which stock the empire of the blue sky, 
comes a perpetual but invisible rain of material 
atoms— like the evening dew, emerging from the 
transparency of space into a state of growing 
divisibility." .... Among the first to produce 
evidence in support of the theory of the cosmic 
origin of certain portions of the atmospheric dust 
was Baron A. E. Nordenskjold. He reported 
large patches of arctic ice covered with a gray 



COMETS, BUST OF TIME. 147 

diatomaceous powder mingled with grains of mag- 
netic iron surrounded by iron-dioxide, and con- 
taining also probably carbon. Similar deposits 
were reported from snows from the neighborhood 
of Stockholm, from the interior of Finland and 
from Spitsbergen. " M. Tissandier," continues 
Prof. Winchell, "has made quite extensive re- 
searches on atmospheric dust, and has put beyond 
question the meteoric origin of certain portions of 
it. Many grains and minute globules of iron are 
met with in these dust-falls, which appear to have 

been fused These grains of magnetic 

iron have been collected from a great variety of 
situations — from the summit of Mont Blanc, from 
rains recently fallen, from the towers of Notre Dame 
Cathedral in Paris and many other cathedrals, 
from the borders of Lake Lehman, from the hos- 
pice of St. Bernard and from many localities in 
distant countries." Prof. Winchell gives a num- 
ber of highly magnified figures of these iron 
globules and afterward says, " Thus the evidence 
of the perpetual arrival of foreign matter from 
the interplanetary spaces seems conclusive." 

Dr. Huggins demonstrated the existence of 
carbon in the comets of Brorson and Winn eke in 
1868. We hope in the sequel to get better ac- 
quainted with their tails. 

The orbits of most of the comets are elliptic, and 
when subjected to the sun's attraction they are 
drawn towards it with a velocity which constantly 



148 COMETS, DUST OF TIME. 

increases as the radius-vector diminishes, a velocity 
at perehelion distance which, for Donati's comet 
Sir J. Herschel estimates at 200,000 miles a 
minute. 

Notwithstanding this tremendous velocity with 
which comets are projected towards the sun they 
are repulsed and turned aside in a different direc- 
tion. The terrific force which resists these fierce 
attacks is the magneto-electric force. Says Father 
Secchi, "It" (gravity) "is not the sole force which 
rules the universe ; perhaps it is itself only a con- 
sequence of disturbed equilibrium in the ether. 
But the comets have given indications of some 
other force, not yet well denned, operating in 
space. The rapid development of the tails o f 
these bodies is not explained by heat alone, nor by 
that of gravity. Magnetism, electricity have been 
evoked, but as yet nothing as to this is certain." 

Langley also suggests that " it is doubtful 
whether gravity is sufficient to account for the 
velocity of all comets," and that " it seems certain 
that it can, in no way, explain some of the phe- 
nomena of the tails." 

Prof. Lockyer in his recent " History of a Star " 
says of the tails of comets, " It looks as if these 
tails may consist, to a large extent, of the gases 
which exist in meteorites, and which can be driven 
out of them at not very high temperatures. See- 
ing that these are thrown off with great velocity, 
and shine through millions of miles in the depths 



SPECTRUM OF GAS FLAME. 149 

of space, it is not likely that we are dealing with 
any such considerable substances as the vapor of 
iron, magnesium or any other metal. This con- 
sideration may help us in the chemistry of the re- 
pelling body " (ether). 

Sir J. Herschel states that " the matter of the 
secondary tail in Donatrs comet was evidently 
darted off from the nucleus with incomparably 
greater velocity than that which went to form the 
primary one." 

Our explanation of this is, that the enormous 
resistance encountered by the comet as it ap- 
proached the sun was constantly increasing, and 
when the material, " consisting," according to 
Schelling,* " of innumerable solid particles sepa- 
rated one from another," which composed the 
secondary tail, was, by reason of the intense heat, 
separated from the nucleus or head of the comet, it 
was projected into space with increased and con- 
stantly increasing velocity due to its nearer ap- 
proach to the sun. Hence, when near the perehelion 
change of direction the tail would seem to be 
driven back upon the nucleus. 

" Considerable discussion has taken place as to 
the origin of the spectrum seen at the base of a 
candle or gas flame. At first, observation seemed 
to point to the fact that it was due to a hydro- 
carbon. It has been ascertained, however, that 
sparks taken in cyanogen gas, even when dried 
* Spectrum Analysis, p. 568. 



150 SPECTRUM OF GAS FLAME. 

with all care, show the spectrum, and a flame of 
cyanogen and oxygen gives the same bands brill- 
iantly. These facts have convinced the majority 
of observers that the spectrum is a true carbon 
spectrum"* 

Prof. Tyndall has made us acquainted, not only 
with the peculiar properties and the marvellous 
distribution of aqueous vapor, but also of the most 
infinitesimal dust-particles that so thoroughly per- 
meate our atmosphere, and are made manifest when 
it is agitated or disturbed. These particles are 
utterly impalpable, and are only made visible in 
sunbeams. Their existence may be made manifest 
in an extraordinary manner by means of the blue 
flame. We have noticed the brilliancy of the field 
when charged with finely comminuted charcoal, 
lodestone or iron. 

To vary the experiment we resorted to friction, 
rubbing briskly the brass tube or wick of a com- 
mon Bunsen burner with a two-pound lodestone, 
the ventilator in the bottom of the tube being left 
entirely open so that only the blue carbon flame 
escaped from the top. Immediately bright coni- 
cal streaks appeared in the flame, intermittent and 
disappearing when the friction ceased. By sub- 
stituting raps- for friction the brilliancy of the 
whole flame was greatly increased and its volume 
slightly enlarged. For the moment the result was 
startling since it seemed to show that magnetism 
* Art. Spectroscopy, Cyc. Brit., 19th Edition. 



SPECTRUM OF GAS FLAME. 151 

was matter that was being consumed by the car- 
bon flame. But continuing and varying the ex- 
periment, it was found that rubbing or rapping the 
tube with any solid substance would produce the 
same effect, much less forcibly, however, with fric- 
tion than with rapping. Another singular effect 
was, that by rapping the rubber tube that conveyed 
the gas into the Bunsen wick, at a little distance 
from the base of the burner a similar but less con- 
tinuous and brilliant effect was manifest. 

Projecting moisture into the flame by the elastic 
force of a damp tooth-brush rubbed across the 
fingers also increased the brilliancy of the whole 
volume of flame. This shows that water, when 
first projected into a burning building, adds fuel to 
the flame. When the heat is sufficiently intense 
to convert the water into steam the flame is extin- 
guished. 

Every person who has used a clothes or hair 
brush knows that after use, by rubbing them across 
the fingers or any other substance, particles of dust 
and other visible matter are expelled from them. 
After these particles have ceased to be visible, turn 
the brushes toward the carbon flame and rub them 
as before. The brilliancy of the flame is at once 
increased. Rub one piece of iron quickly across 
another towards the flame. A most brilliant flame 
is exhibited. Rub a stiff tooth-brush across the 
flat surface of a lodestone towards the flame. A 
still more brilliant flame filled with incandescent 



152 SPECTRUM OF GAS FLAME. . 

sparks will rush up from the tube. We had made 
a steel tube or wick to fit an ordinary Bunsen 
burner and repeated these experiments with it, in 
some cases with more brilliant effect than with the 
brass tube. The steel was necessarily magnetized 
both by friction and rapping during the experi- 
ments. With both the brass and steel tubes, by 
scraping off particles of lodestone on the upper 
edge so that they came in contact with the flame, 
a yellowish green color appeared at the base of the 
flame from the brass tube which we attributed to 
the copper in its composition, but a bright green 
appeared at the base of the flame from the steel 
tubd, which the spectroscope may show to be the 
spectrum of the lodestone flame. With a slightly 
moistened tooth-brush take up some floured lode- 
stone that has been sifted through flannel and pro- 
ject it into the flame. A scintillating blaze of 
glory will be the result. After handling lode- 
stones, iron, charcoal and other substances, brush 
the fingers of the right hand briskly across those 
of the left and toward the flame ; it will become 
more brilliant intermittingly, and incandescent 
sparks will appear. 

As there can be no combustion except through 
the agency of matter, whence comes the matter 
that illumines the carbon flame ? We can trace 
that from the water, the iron, the lodestone, the 
charcoal, and the particles of dust. But whence 
comes that from the flesh of the hands ? Since 



SPECTRUM OF GAS FLAME. 153 

flame is incontestibly the product of the combus- 
tion of matter, how infinitely infinitesimal, in this 
case, must be the particles of that matter ? Is it 
possible that the ether can be more ethereal than 
this ? If not, the resistless logic of the question 
seems to be that ether is matter. Another argu- 
ment in favor of the same conclusion may be cited. 
We know that nothing but matter except magnet- 
ism can resist matter in motion. In a perfect 
vacuum all substances light or heavy, fall with the 
same velocity. In the atmosphere they fall with 
unequal velocities, the feather less rapidly than 
the leaden bullet. Now it is held that the ether 
resists the motion of the planets in their orbits and 
at the same time helps to support them as they 
revolve on their axes. If this argument is sound 
it is a further indication that ether is matter. 

A very good illustration of the above conditions 
is furnished by the flame of a Bunsen gas-burner 
when the ventilator at the bottom of the tube is 
left entirely open so that the air may be admitted 
to the lower part of the flame. The faint fringe 
of light that borders the outer and upper edge of 
the flame produced by the combustion of the oxy- 
gen from the air with a slight portion of hydrogen, 
represents the coma ; the denser yellow flame 
produced by the combustion of the " solid bodies," 
both of the gas and such as may escape from the 
inner surface of the tube, represents the nucleus, 
and the beautifully transparent slightly blue flame 



154 SPECTRUM OF GAS FLAME. 

that immediately follows is the carbon flame that 
forms the tails of comets. 

To illustrate this more effectually we prepared 
a single tube or metallic wick to. receive the gas 
from two Bunsen burners. The orifice for the 
escape of the concentrated flame of both burners 
was three inches wide. When the gas was turned 
on full head with the ventilators entirely open we 
had a splendid jet of flame three inches wide and 
about eight inches high at the centre of the flame 
arch. We thus had a curtain of light-blue trans- 
parent flame equal to a parallelogram about three 
inches wide and four inches high. 

With a glass blow-pipe we sent a current of air 
through the curtain. The heat was carried be- 
yond arm's length. With a small nozzle attached to 
the rubber tube of an air-pump, and turning on a 
strong current of air a conical volume of heat was 
developed, the heat being quite strong at its apex 
near the blue curtain, and detected by the hand 
some twelve to fifteen feet distant. Counter-cur- 
rents from any source should be excluded. 

When the Bunsen flame was ascending undis- 
turbed, a fine effect was produced by sprinkling or 
ejecting into it finely comminuted particles of any 
metal or mineral. Particles of carbon gave a 
profusion of brilliant sparks. Thoroughly pulver- 
ized lodestone and iron yielded copious volumes 
of bright flame. If this be a true synthesis of 
comet's tails, then every lighted candle and gas- 



MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. 155 

flame has been manufacturing them for centuries 
past. 

Says Sir John Herschel, " The constitution of 
the nubecula — the Magellanic clouds — especially 
that of nubecula major, is found to be of astonish- 
ing complexity. The general ground of both con- 
sists of large tracts and patches of nebulosity in 
every stage of resolution, . . . nebulae in abun- 
dance both regular and irregular ; globular clusters 
in every state of condensation ; and objects of a 
nebulous character quite peculiar, and which have 
no analogue in any other region of the heavens." 
These objects of a nebulous character may possibly 
be masses of glowing gas similar to those discovered 
by Huggins in the nebula of Draco. Whatever 
may be their constitution they appear to be per- 
manently fixed in the far south-eastern portion of 
the heavens. 

Remembering that by our hypothesis there are 
several stellar systems in each of the hyperboloids, 
we may assume that two of these systems are 
adjacent to each other in two adjoining hyperbo- 
loids, but not in the same latitude, so to speak, in 
space, and that they are also within telescopic 
reach of each other. Let us further assume that 
the system to which our earth belongs is within 
telescopic reach of the system that lies next east 
of it. We know that our telescopes reveal to us 
many celestial bodies lying far beyond the planets 
connected with our system, that many of these 



156 MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. 

bodies are suns, and that each sun is supposed to 
be the centre of another system. All these bodies 
revolve in the same general direction. Hence it 
may happen that, from our earth, moving along 
the eastern side of our system, we may, with the 
aid of the telescope, observe the celestial bodies 
moving — or rather existing, for they can hardly 
be said to move — in the ivestern side of the neigh- 
boring system. The Magellanic clouds may belong 
to this neighboring system and be at an immense 
distance from their primary in the direction of our 
primary, and so within reach of our telescopes. 
This seems to be a satisfactory explanation of their 
position. 

The eccentric motions of the stars in the celes- 
tial vault may also be satisfactorily explained by 
our hypothesis. While the stars are all moving in 
one general direction some of them appear to be 
moving in opposite directions. This may be shown 
by the two supposed neighboring systems. Place 
two celestial globes of equal size side by side with 
their axes horizontal, parallel and standing north 
and south. Note a star on the meridian of one of 
the globes and another star on the opposite side of 
the meridian of the other globe. 

Now, rotate both globes from west to east. While 
the first star sinks to its horizon the other star will 
rise to its horizon, and then as they continue to 
revolve they will appear to be moving in opposite 
directions. By destroying the parallelism of their 



ECCENTRIC STAR MOTIONS. 157 

axes an obliquity of rotation will be apparent. In 
like manner we may suppose the telescope will 
reveal to our view other stars of different magni- 
tudes belonging to other neighboring systems. 
The inclination of their axes of rotation may 
greatly vary and every kind of motion be ex- 
hibited. 

We may here notice a peculiar optical illusion 
connected with the motion of double stars. Im- 
agine two stars of any magnitude made easily vis- 
ible by our telescopes, to be so situated in space as 
to be nearly in range with each other, and suppose 
their rotary motion to be in the same direction, 
but with different velocities. Under these condi- 
tions the two stars will appear to be moving in 
opposite directions, the star that moves slowest 
appearing to move in a direction contrary to that 
of the other. If the spectator could have a lateral 
view of the pair, he would recognize the immense 
distance between them. 



158 AGE OF THE EARTH. 



XX. 

The Age of the Earth. 

We are less interested in what may be the age 
of the earth at the present time, than we are in 
what may be its future term of existence. Some 
authorities suppose it to have existed about ten 
millions of years and that it may possibly continue 
to exist for about eighteen millions more. Its 
future life depends, primarily, on the heat derived 
from the sun and secondarily on what Helmholtz 
calls certain " physico-mechanical laws." 

Every decrease in the temperature of the sun is 
followed, ultimately, by a decrease in the tempera- 
ture of the interior of the earth. When this tem- 
perature reaches a point so low that the earth's 
surface will not support vegetable life then all 
life, both vegetable and animal, will cease to exist. 
The operation of the tides and winds, the resist- 
ance resulting from the inequalities in the depth 
of the oceans and seas and the elevation of mount- 
ains are mechanical forces which, it is claimed, 
will slowly but surely retard the rotary motion of 



AGE OF THE EARTH. 159 

the planet, and finally reduce it to a condition of 
utter barrenness and desolation. Laplace, how- 
ever, says : * " The currents of the sea, the rivers, 
earthquakes and winds do not alter the rotation of 
the earth/' and also that " For the last 2000 years 
the sun's mass has not varied the two millionth 
part." f 

Under our hypothesis a very different result 
may be anticipated. That hypothesis provides an 
abundant and constant supply of fuel for all suns 
in the future. We know that our sun is rated as 
a star of about the 4th magnitude. There are a 
great number of stars in the firmament of vastly 
greater size and intenser brightness. We have 
before referred to Alpha Centauri, Sirius and Ca- 
pella. Our sun would cast a shadow on either of 
them if placed between the two with Sirius serv- 
ing as a screen. We also know that the stars vary 
in intrinsic brightness as well as in size. 

Now, in view of the infinite supply of fuel 
poured into the stellar systems from outer space 
we may legitimately assume that all suns may in- 
crease in size and also in intrinsic brightness and 
calorific force. Hence it may follow that no planet 
will ever perish from diminution of the heat-sup- 
ply, but, on the contrary, may melt with fervent 
heat or be destroyed by the operation of " physico- 
mechanical laws." Indeed we may with reason- 

* Mec. Cel. Vol. II., Book V., Bowditch's Translation, 
fid. Vol. IV., p. 622. 



160 AGE OF THE EARTH. 

able confidence believe that, from this cause, all 
planets will ultimately cease to exist as planets 
and that their elements may be transformed into 
other ponderables and imponderables that may 
furnish fuel for distant suns or supply material for 
new planets to revolve in other spheres, 

Suns also, may wax and wane and perish and be 
resurgent in other suns. But there is no neces- 
sity that they should do so, since there is never a 
lack of fuel for their flame. There may be varia- 
tion in the intensity of their radiance and calores- 
cence as the proportions of hydrogen, oxygen and 
carbon or nitrogen and ammonia may vary in the 
fuel supplied. 



SUN AND AURORA. 161 



XXI. 

The Sun and the Aurora, 

That we may better understand the character of 
the fixed stars, all of which are supposed to be 
suns, we may briefly study that of our own. The 
generally accepted theory of its constitution is 
that its centre is composed of partially if not wholly 
liquified solids, of which the spectroscope has re- 
vealed the following : iron, nickel, copper, zinc, 
sulphur, and indeed, most of the substances of 
which the crust of our earth is composed ; that 
these are surrounded by the photosphere or visible 
surface of the sun, a kind of dense atmosphere 
composed of clouds formed by the combination and 
condensation of such of the solar gases as are suffi- 
ciently cooled off by their radiation into space. 
Outside of the photosphere, is the chromosphere, a 
layer of uncondensed gas which overlies it. The 
lower portion of the chromosphere is rich in all 
the vapors and gases which enter into the sun's 
composition. 

At a comparatively small elevation the heavier 
11 



162 SUW AND AURORA. 

gases disappear, giving place to the lighter gases, 
especially to hydrogen which extends beyond the 
surface of the sun to immense distances in every 
direction. Certain highly-colored prominences 
originating, apparently, in the chromosphere are 
considered by Young to be extensions of it pro- 
jected upward to great altitudes and forming enor- 
mous clouds as beautiful, variable and changeable 
as those which we see in our terrestrial sky. 

Proctor, discussing the corona and the observed 
association between these colored prominences and 
the inner and brighter parts of the corona says : 
" That in some way or other electricity is at work 
in the production of the coronal light, may well be 
believed ; and further, that electrical action is at 
work in some special manner above the prominence 
regions is far from impossible." * 

There is a difference of opinion as to the origin 
of the spots on the sun. We do not discuss this 
question since, for our purposes, we are only inter- 
ested in knowing that a close correlation has been 
proved to exist between them and the earth's mag- 
netism. The magnetic needle responds to their 
influence as readily and distinctly as it does to that 
of the aurora. The observations of Angstrom and 
Respighi showed that the aurora and the zodiacal 
light are identical. The more rapid the motion 
of the rays or streamers of the aurora the greater 
is the excitement of the magnetic needle. 
* Orbs Around Us, pp. 276-278. 



S UN AND A UR OB A . 1 03 

111 his monograph on the Aurorse Mr. J. Rand 
C apron mentions one observed in 1877 by Mr. Carl 
Bork, a Norwegian naturalist, and painted by him 
from nature, in oil colors. The painting is remark- 
able for the distinct but tender green of some of 
the streamers. 

It is claimed that the spectroscopic observations 
of the zodiacal light made by Angstrom from which 
he concluded that it developed the same green line 
that is exhibited in the aurora, are not verified by 
later observations. But if the zodiacal light and 
the aurora are identical as claimed by him and 
Respighi, then there is conclusive reason to believe 
that their spectra are identical. And the proba- 
bility is that if the vibrations or undulations of the 
zodiacal light were as rapid as those of the aurora, 
the green line would be distinctly developed in it. 



164 AGE OF STABS. 



XXII. 

The Age of the Stars. 

It will be remembered that Sir William Her- 
schel was the first to suggest that the nebulae may 
furnish us an indication of the age of the stars. 
This idea is repeated and more or less elaborated 
by Father Secchi, Prof. Tait and Prof. Langley ; 
by the first very slightly, by the two latter more 
fully. Says Father Secchi, " It is not very long 
since it was believed that the stellar spaces were 
peopled only by well-defined and compact bodies ; 
now there have been discovered those enormous 
masses of gas which are, perhaps, destined to con- 
stitute other solid bodies, if even already there are 
not some of them solidified, of which light has not 
yet brought us the announcement." 

Prof. Tait,* commenting on Fourier's great 
work on " Heat Conduction " says : " In astronomy 
it leads us to the grand question of the age, or 
perhaps more correctly of the phase of life of a star 
or a nebulae ; shows us the material of potential 

* Eecent Advances in Physical Science, p. 22. 



AGE OF STARS. 105 

suns, other suns in the process of formation, in 
vigorous youth and in every stage of protracted 
decay. It leads us to look on each planet and 
satellite as having been at one time a tiny sun, a 
member of some binary or multiple group, and 
even now presenting an endless variety of subjects 
for the application of its methods. It leads us 
forward in thought, to the far distant time when 
the materials of the present stellar systems shall 
have lost all but their mutual potential energy, 
but shall in virtue of it form the materials of fur- 
ther larger suns with their attendant planets." 

Prof. Langlejr,* concerning the developments of 
the spectroscope says : " Again, in showing us the 
composition of the stars it has also shown us more, 
for it has enabled us to form a conjecture as to the 
relative ages of the stars and suns," and of the 
different features and characteristics of the stars, 
" that a succession in age is not improbably pointed 
at in these types. Yet if we admit this tempera- 
ture classification of the stars, w r e are not far from 
admitting that the spectroscope is now pointing 
out the stages in the life of suns themselves ; suns 
just beginning their life of almost infinite years ; 
suns in the middle of their course ; suns which are 
growing old and casting feebler beams." 

*New Astronomy, p. 238. 



166 SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 



XXIII. 

The Southern Hemisphere and the Magellanic 
Clouds. 

We have stated (supra) that Sir William Her- 
schel was the first to emphasize the fact that the 
southern hemisphere is much less rich in the num- 
ber and magnitude of its stars than the northern. 
But it is richest in nubeculse and nebulae. To 
Sir William and Sir John Herschel we are mostly 
indebted for our knowledge of the marvellous 

o 

beauty and wonderful character of the nubecula, 
the Magellanic clouds. 

" The constitution," says Sir John, " of the nu- 
becula,and especially of the nubecula major, is found 
to be of astonishing complexity. The general 
ground of both consists of large tracts and patches 
of nebulosity in every stage of resolution, from 
light irresolvable with eighteen inches of reflecting 
aperture, up to perfectly separated stars like the 
milky way, and clustering groups sufficiently insu- 
lated and condensed to come under the designation 
of irregular, and in some cases, pretty rich clusters. 
But besides those there are also nebulae in abun- 



SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 167 

dance both regular and irregular ; globular clusters 
in every state of condensation ; and objects of a 
nebulous character quite peculiar, and which have 
no analogue in any other region of the heavens." 

Speaking of the glory of portions of the southern 
sky, Dr. A. B. Gould* says, that "in the region 
of the southern cross is indescribable. There 
where the milky way is crossed by the thick stream 
of bright stars which skirts the rim of light, its 
brilliancy is wonderfully increased, and it exhibits 
a magnificence unequalled in any other portion of 
the heavens." 

Humboldt writes that the lesser of the Magel- 
lanic clouds "is surrounded with a kind of desert, 
a desert of intensest darkness." We shall notice 
in the sequel the significance of the position and 
composition of these clouds. 

Swedenborg was first to note, in 1734, the varia- 
tion of the magnetic force from the equator to the 
poles, a fact afterward noted by La Perouse, in 
1787, and still later by Humboldt, in 1798. " The 
intensity of this force," says Humboldt, " is least 
at the equator and greatest at the poles." 

Swedenborg also noted the fact that the southern 
magnetic axis is longer than the northern, a fact 
also noted by Prof. Hansteen, in 1819, and con- 
firmed by Sir James Ross during the cruise of the 
Erebus and Terror, in 1839-1843. It is one of the 
most interesting phenomena connected with the 

* Account of the Cordoba Observatory. 



168 SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 

motion of our globe. The position of the two 
poles is given as follows : 

South magnetic pole 75° 5' South Lat. 
North magnetic pole 75° 0' North Lat. 

Prof. Hansteen gives the following : Period of 
revolution of North Mag. pole, 1890 years, mean 
annual motion 11/425. Period of revolution of 
South Mag. pole, 4605 years, mean annual motion 
4'69. 

Discussing the investigations of Sabine, Ross and 
Gauss, Humboldt writes,* " if the intensity near 
the south magnetic pole be expressed by 2.052, 
Sabine found it was only 1.624 at the North Mag. 
pole." Sir Isaac Newton proved that the preces- 
sion of the equinoxes was due to the preponder- 
ance of matter about the earth's equator as com- 
pared with its poles, whereby the former was more 
strongly attracted than the latter, thus producing 
a gyratory or wabbling motion of the poles of the 
earth around those of the ecliptic. 

If the fact that the southern magnetic axis is 
longer than the northern shows that the centre of 
gravity in the earth is not the centre of figure, this 
latter lying nearest to the north pole, then this 
fact would materially influence the precession of 
the equinox. 

*Kosmos, Vol. I. p. 197. 



NEW COSMOGRAPHY. 169 



XXIV. 

A New Cosmography and Celestial Geography. 

It remains for us to apply the facts and forces 
we have been considering to the Geography of the 
Heavens, the distribution and motions of the stars, 
the system or systems under which they are ar- 
ranged and the laws which govern their move- 
ments and influence their duration. Following 
Bacon and Kant who, as before noted, designated 
Time and Space as a Forms," we have assigned 
certain Forms to space in developing the new cos- 
mography and the new celestial geography. 

There are two ideas, or rather beliefs, that are 
strongly intrenched in the popular mind. One is 
that the stars are infinite in number and another 
is that they are infinite in duration, that they will 
never die. We shall learn that they are not infinite 
in number and that all the planetary stars may 
cease to exist. 

There are certain curves and surfaces that we 
shall need to utilize and refer to so frequently that 
it will be well to understand their origin, forms 
and functions. All these curves, and none others, 
can be cut from a single right-angled cone. If 
we pass a plane through this cone perpendicular to 



170 NEW COSMOGRAPHY. 

its axis it will cut out a circle ; if we pass it at 
any angle with the axis greater than 45° it will 
cut out an ellipse ; if parallel to the axis at any dis- 
tance below the apex, an hyperbola ; if parallel to 
the side, a parabola. 

If the plane be passed from the apex to the base 
along the axis, it will cut out an isosceles triangle. 
If we revolve a circle upon either of its diameters 
it will generate a sphere ; if we revolve an ellipse 
on either of its axes it will generate an ellipsoid ; 
if we revolve a parabola upon its major axis it will 
generate a paraboloid and if we revolve an hyper- 
bola upon its major axis it will generate an hyper- 
boloid. 

These curves have certain characteristics. A 
circular space or area is the largest that can be en- 
closed by any given line. The planets rotate on 
their axes in circles, they revolve in their orbits in 
ellipses. Periodical comets revolve round the sun 
in ellipses ; unreturning comets in parabolic or 
hyperbolic curves. The trajectories of shooting 
stars are parabolic. 

In a solid cube of wood we can cut out or ex- 
cavate an hyperboloid from each of its sides. The 
straight lines joining the centres of each pair of 
opposite sides will pass through the centre of the 
cube itself and will form the major axes of the 
hyperboloids. 

The two hyperboloids opposite each other and 
having a common axis are technically called nappes. 



NEW COSMOGRAPHY. 171 

As there are six hyperboloids there will be three 
pair of nappes. The straight lines passing at right 
angles to each other, through the point of inter- 
section of the two major axes of the nappes and 
tangent to the curve or surface at an infinite 
distance, are called asymptotes. The hyperbolic 
curve and the right line called the asymptote or 
tangent, bear a peculiar relation to each other for, 
although the latter is called tangent to the former, 
yet, practically, they never coincide, as is mathe- 
matically demonstrated.* The spaces, cut out of 
our cube, which form the hyperboloids are hyper- 
boloidal spaces. The space between the hyper- 
boloids but exterior to them is an asymptotic space. 
For convenience we may call it an asymptoid. 

Noiv, concerning all these lines and spaces we 
notice one transcendent truth, that, as here combined, 
they all have their origin in one common centre and 
they are all infinite in extent. 

If a sun possessing infinite photometric poiver were 
placed at that centre its rays, if they met with no 
obstruction, would illuminate all space. 

If infinite space were illuminated by avast number 

* Upon this fact is founded Addison's famous comparison 
of the spirit of man with the Divine spirit. {Spectator No. 
III.) ki The soul," he says, " considered with its Creator, is 
like one of those mathematical lines that may draw nearer 
to another for all eternity without a possibility of touching 
it." 



172 NEW COSMOGRAPHY. 

of suns attended by their secondary orbs, an all- 
seeing eye, placed at that centre could survey and 
scan them all. 

If an omnipotent, inherent, self acting force were 
placed at that centre it could sway, move, govern 
them all. 



THE NEW SYSTEM. 173 



XXV. 

The New System. — The Asymptoid and the Hyper- 
boloids. — The Matter and Motion Within Them. 

All philosophers and astronomers have supposed 
space to be filled with matter which is, in part, 
systematically arranged, is subjected to certain 
forces and governed by certain laws, but no 
specific, original form in which it exists and 
is conserved until needed for use in organic 
work has been proposed. As we have already 
stated, the stellar system that meets with most 
favor and is generally accepted as true, is that 
which is based upon the nebular hypothesis. 
The culmination of this system is the Milky Way 
accompanied by star clusters, young stars, nubec- 
ulae, nebulae and star-dust. 

Its most sublime and striking features have been 
described and mapped by the Herschels and by 
Father Secchi. A small section of it in which our 
sun is supposed to be located has been especially 
delineated. This system is very grand and im- 
pressive, but how small a portion, comparatively, 
of infinite space does it utilize, does it occupy ? 



174 THE NEW SYSTEM. 

The only system which transcends this, which 
sweeps into wider areas and recognizes other Milky 
"Ways with all their grand accompaniments is that 
of Lambert, which has been already noticed. 

The new system it is proposed to develop begins 
with the hypothesis that all space, by the action 
of certain laws, is divided into different forms or 
compartments in the manner we have already in- 
dicated ; that the chief central form to which all 
the others adjoin is the asymptotic which we call 
the asymptoid ; that this spreads out infinitely and 
embraces, but does not surround, the six hyper- 
boloidal forms or spaces which we designate as 
hyperboloids. These six forms, as before noted 
constitute three pairs of nappes. All the nappes ex- 
tend outward infinitely from the lines in which 
they adjoin the asjmiptoid. The axes of these 
nappes intersect each other at right angles and are 
infinite in length. This point of intersection is 
the apex of the cone from which the hyperboloids 
were cut. These hyperboloids are all exactly 
equal to each other and, mathematically, their 
equations are identical. 

The points at which the axes of the nappes in- 
tersect the hyperboloids are in the centre of the 
hyperboloids themselves, and the positive poles of 
all the suns in all the hyperboloids also point to 
wards this centre, as the positive poles in all the 
planets point towards their suns. All the planets 
connected with all the suns in all the hyperboloids 



North. 




South. 
The X-shaped space represents the Asymptoid with Spheres. The other spaces are parts of 
Hyperboloids with Planets, etc. 
E. The Earth. 
M. The Magellanic Clouds. 
AA. Asymptotes. 



THE NEW SYSTEM. 175 

revolve from west to east or from left to right, 
and possibly the whole omniverse may revolve in 
the same direction. 

We speak of " fixed stars." They are so approxi- 
mately in size and in intrinsic brightness and in re- 
lation to each other. But since the planets have 
a circular rotation on their axes and revolve in 
ellipses around their primaries, in both cases with 
vastly different velocities and in vastly different 
times, it is evident that not one of them occupies 
the same position in space during any two consecu- 
tive periods of time nor will any of them hereafter 
occupy any position that they have occupied here- 
tofore. Motion is the life of stars, stagnation their 
death. We must emphasize the cardinal fact that 
the arms, so to designate them, of the asymptoid 
grow constantly narrower as they recede from the 
vertex of the curve or form. 

The hyperboloids are six domes. The areas of 
these domes are constantly enlarged as their axes 
are more and more elongated. Considering them 
as spaces occupied by celestial bodies it seems clear 
that light must diminish as it recedes from their 
centres until it is lost in the utter darkness that 
envelops them all. 

Some of the gases after their formation under 
fixed laws as before noted which have strong affin- 
ities for each other may be combined in their 
partially condensed condition. Other and innu- 
merable combinations, adhesions and mechanical 



176 THE NEW SYSTEM. 

associations may occur between them in all stages 
between the extreme poles. And by these varied and 
numberless combinations every possible form and 
kind of matter is produced. Hence we have stellar 
and planetary systems with all their accompani- 
ments and belongings ; suns of every size and kind 
and color ; planets, large and small, with or with 
out a single or several satellites ; asteroids, meteo- 
rites, star clusters, nebulae, nubecula and star-dust. 
To the omnipresence of magnetism we must add 
its omnipotence, in the sense of its infinite and 
constant action, its persistent, pervasive vis-viva. 
It is always alive. There are various and simple 
ways of showing this. The simplest is the single 
thermo-electric pair formed by uniting bars of 
antimony and bismuth at one end and connecting 
the opposite, open ends, with a wire. By heating 
the united ends a direct current will be generated ; 
by cooling them the current will be reversed. 

Another simple method of exhibiting the magnetic 
force is the following. Place a magnetic needle 
in its normal condition when at rest standing north 
and south. From a distance outside, at right 
angles to the needle, present to it the poles of a 
magnet. As like poles repel and unlike poles at- 
tract, let us use the north pole of the needle and 
of the magnet. As we approach the magnet to 
the needle from the east the latter is deflected to 
the west. It is pushed out of its normal direction 
more and more the nearer the magnet approaches 



THE NEW SYSTEM. 177 

it. This pushing is persistent so long as the rela- 
tive positions of the magnet and the needle are 
maintained. From month to month, year to year, 
these opposite forces will continue to act. With 
the least variation in the intensity of the magnetism 
either in the atmosphere or the magnet, motion is 
instantly manifested. 

It is not simply inertia, it is in fact a perpetual 
force and also practically, perpetual motion, for the 
invisible vibrations of force are constantly passing 
between the magnet and the needle, manifest mo- 
tion resulting, as we have stated, the moment 
there is any variation in the magnetic tension. 

" In the incandescent points which produce the 
electric light, when the current is turned off dark- 
ness ensues, but they do not cease to radiate. 
There is still a copious emission from the points." * 

It has been shown by Matteucci that, in living 
animals an electric current is perpetually circulat- 
ing between the external and internal portions of 
the muscles, If the physical elements of the body 
were imperishable and unchangeable, this motion 
would be perpetual. 

Any number of needles may be placed in the 
line of magnetic action and all of them will be 
more or less deflected according to their distance 
from the magnet. We placed four needles in this 
line, the first needle one inch, the second two, the 
third three and the fourth six inches long, which 

* TyndaU : Heat as Motion, § 306. 
12 



178 THE NEW SYSTEM. 

we designated in the same order as Mercury, 
Venus, the Earth and Mars. They were placed at 
distances from the magnet varying from 12 to 60 
inches, the longest needle at the greatest distance. 

The removal of the three interior needles from 
the line of force did not cause the slightest varia- 
tion in the deflection of the outer one. As many 
needles, of any length, as the space would hold, 
could be placed in the line of magnetic force, and 
each would at once be deflected to the same extent 
that it would when it stood alone in the line, each 
needle contributing its own latent magnetism to 
the main line of force. It is this magnetic force, 
as we have indicated, that determines the condi- 
tions and motions of the matter in the hyperboloids. 
The next question is one of intense interest, name- 
ly : what are the contents of the asymptoid and to 
what conditions and motions are they subjected? 
Difficult as the question is we do not despair of its 
partial elucidation. 

Let us again note more particularly the form 
and position of this space in reference to all space. 
We have already described its geometrical origin 
and figure, showing that it holds within its em- 
bracing but not surrounding curve as before stated, 
six exactly equal and homogeneous hyperboloids. 
Hence its centre may, for our purpose, be con- 
sidered as the centre of all space, since every ra- 
dius extending outward from that centre will be 
infinite. We have also pointed out the wonderful 



THE NEW SYSTEM. 179 

characteristics of this centre, the perfect equilib- 
rium of all space and matter around it and that 
from it, every adequate influence, energy or force 
could be easily, equably and systematically distrib- 
uted and extended in all possible directions. We 
have also noted the origin — Deity — of all power, 
energy and force. We may then consider this 
asymptotic space, from its peculiar and absolutely 
central position and its marvellous adaptability for 
the propagation of infinite action, to be the seat of 
infinite power or, as we may reverently suggest, 
the dwelling-place of God. 



180 TRE ASYMPTOID. 



XXVI. 

The Asymptoid. — Transcendental Matter. — Light 
without Heat. — Peculiar Function of Nitrogen. — 
Nitrogen Zones, — Exhilarating Atmosphere. — Ra- 
diant Matter. 

What are the contents of this space ? We may 
reach some conclusions concerning them by an- 
alogy, by inference from what we know of those 
appertaining to the hyperboiclal spaces. We have 
studied the character and properties of the various 
forms of matter which they contain, of the ponder- 
ables and imponderables, and of the various forces 
to which they are subjected. All this matter and 
all these forces are very substantial, very real and 
easily and effectively made manifest to our senses. 
It appears reasonable to infer that they must be 
analogous to those found in the asymptoid. 

But we may readily believe that the latter are 
of a more transcendental character. We know 
that matter exists here in an almost infinite variety 
of forms, and that some kinds of matter are allo- 
tropic, that they are capable of existing in two or 
more conditions which are distinct in their physi- 



THE ASYMPTOID. 181 

cal or chemical relations. The most familiar and 
conspicuous of these is carbon, which occurs crys- 
tallized in octahedrons and other related forms, in 
a state of extreme hardness in the diamond ; it also 
occurs in hexagonal forms of little hardness, as 
black lead, and again in a third form of entire soft- 
ness as lampblack and charcoal. In some cases 
one of the allotropics is peculiarly an active state 
and the other a passive one. Thus, among gases, 
ozone is an active state of oxygen and is distinct 
from ordinary oxygen which is the element in its 
passive state. 

There are several other substances that exist 
under conditions that are, chemically, quite distinct 
though not exactly allotropic. We also know 
that the spectroscope reveals to us in all the 
celestial bodies numerous forms of matter that are 
identical with those that we find in our own solar 
system. We maj r , therefore, legitimately conclude 
that entirely similar forms of matter exist within 
the asymptoid, and that they may be more eclectic, 
more transcendental in their properties and 
characteristics, that they may be less dense, more 
refined, more delicate in their structure. And the 
illuminating and calorific conditions of the asjanp- 
toid may be as transcendental as its matter. 

" The sole difference,'' says Tyndall, " between 
light and radiant heat is one of period. The waves 
of the one are short and of rapid occurrence, while 
the waves of the other are long and of slow occur- 



182 THE ASYMPTOIB. 

rence." From the refinement and exaltation of 
everything pertaining to the asymptoid we may 
infer that the light and heat developed within it 
must be of the same character. That light will be, 
not sparkling, intermittent, dazzling, but the calm, 
steady, transcendent, eternal glow of the Light 
Ineffable ; the heat, not intense, scorching, oppress- 
ive, but gentle, radiant, glowing, illustrating, in 
its supremest state, that peculiar condition of light 
without heat of which nature furnishes us minia- 
ture examples in the firefly — Lamphyridae — and 
the glowworm — Elateridae. 

These two lights are a most interesting study. 
They are, considering the size of the living, fleshly 
forms in which they are developed, as brilliant as 
that of suns. When caught and held in the hand 
no sensation of heat is felt, whereas if a person 
held in the same way two bits of charcoal of the 
same size heated to redness, the burn would be 
most painful. 

The experiments of Mr. N. Tesla as reported in 
a lecture before the Electrical Engineers in London, 
show decided progress in the development of this 
kind of light. We may also mention his very 
sanguine expectation, twice expressed, that under 
certain conditions " telephoning could be rendered 
practicable across the Atlantic " and also that 
" ere many generations pass our machinery will 
be a power obtainable at any point in the universe. 
.... Throughout all space there is energy. Is 



THE A S YMP TOID. 183 

this energy static or kinetic ? If static, our hopes 
are in vain ; if kinetic, and this we know it is for 
certain, then it is a mere question of time when 
men will succeed in attaching their machinery to 
the very wheelwork of nature." 

The advice of the late Mr. R. Waldo Emerson 
was " hitch your wagon to the star.' 9 Mr. Tesla 
apparently expects to accomplish this end by the 
aid of electric traces. However, it has been 
abundantly demonstrated by modern hypnotists 
that Telepathy — thought transference, thought ex- 
change — is practicable through thousands of miles 
and there is no reason to doubt that it may be 
achieved through much greater distances. An- 
swered silent prayer is successful Telepathy, 
whatever the distance necessary to secure that 
success maybe. 

The gases, refined and purified, must be found 
in the asymptoid. The four most important of 
these are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbonic 
acid. The three first are electric conductors, the 
more dense the more effective. Carbon, as we 
have seen, is a good conductor in all its forms 
except the diamond. 

Nitrogen is devoid of color, taste or smell, is 
mechanical^ mixed with oxygen in our atmos- 
phere and combined with it in nitrous oxide. 
Whereas oxygen is the most magnetic of all the 
gases, nitrogen is not at all so, it is entirely neu- 
tral or zero. 



184 THE ASYMPTOID. 

Another remarkable property is its power to 
sustain life, which indeed cannot be continuously 
sustained without it. It not merely helps to sus- 
tain life but under certain conditions, as we have 
before noted, produces its highest exaltation. 
Strangely antagonistic to this is its destructive, 
explosive power. It is an indispensable ingredient 
in the different forms of gunpowder and dynamite, 
is supposed to be, and undoubtedly is effective in 
the explosion of thunderbolts. 

Another of its marked peculiarities is its partial 
opacity to heat and transparency to light. While 
it permits the transmission of the radiant light of 
the asymptoid into the hyperboloids it partially 
absorbs the oppressive heat of the latter and pre- 
vents its passage into the former. 

Ammonia is composed of one part of nitrogen 
and two of hydrogen. Now hydrochlorate, car- 
bonate and sulphate of ammonia absorb heat and 
extinguish combustion according to their density. 
Leslie proved that heated bodies cool more rapidly 
in hydrogen gas than in our atmosphere, and 
Tyndall showed that a continuous spectrum of 
nitrous acid gas thrown on a screen developed, 
under certain conditions, numerous dark bands, 
the rays of which are intercepted by the gas while 
the intervening bands of light were allowed to pass. 

At this point we call especial attention to a 
peculiar function of nitrogen as connected, by our 
hypothesis, with the forms and divisions of the 



THE A S YMP TOID. 185 

new system, We know that of the three so called 
permaent gases, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, 
the specific gravity of the first is greatest, of 
nitrogen next, while hydrogen is lightest. As we 
ascend from planets into space these gases occur 
in the same order, the heaviest gas, under normal 
conditions, being always lowest. 

We have supposed that all the forms of matter 
and force, all things within the asymptoid are 
more eclectic, more transcendental than the forms 
of matter and force and all things in the hyperbo- 
loids. Hence there needs be something to indicate 
the space which separates them, that lies between 
them. Now nitrogen, magnetically, is zero, 
neutral, neither attractive nor repulsive, while at 
the same time it may be thoroughly and easily 
permeated by the magnetic force. It also, as we 
have noted, transmits light and absorbs heat. 

With these peculiar and remarkable properties 
it is admirably fitted for a dividing curtain between 
the asymptoid and the hyperboloids. And that is 
the function we may suppose the nitrogen to ex- 
hibit, and, therefore, that a zone of gases of which 
nitrogen is the chief constituent, ammonia being 
another, fringes each of the hyperboloids. 

As oxygen is the most abundant and indispen- 
sable of the gases in the hyperboloids so in its eclec- 
tic state it must be most effective and pervasive 
in the asymptoid, and the oxygen and nitrogen 
which here form exhilarating gas may there be so 



186 TEE ASYMPTOID. 

refined, so transformed, and so exquisitely com- 
bined as to form an atmosphere, the mere respira- 
tion of which will be a perpetual delight. 

As indicating the extent rather than the charac- 
ter of the difference between the forms of matter 
in the asymptoid and the hyperboloids it may be 
suggested that the granite of that space may be 
diamond ; and the gems may all be transfigured ; 
the flowers may be the shadowy embodiment of a 
perfume; the water, flowing volumes of radiant 
mist, and its bow of promise a transfigured iris. 
All good and beautiful things we know here may 
be transfigured and glorified there. 

And w r e may the more reasonably anticipate re- 
sults similar to these when we study the beautiful 
experiments of Crooke with " radiant matter " 
operating in vacuum tubes or bulbs of glass, par- 
ticularly the delicate shadow of the cross, the 
fanciful glass railway and the fairy-like wind-mill 
of the radiometer, heretofore noticed. It will be 
borne in mind that these tubes do not furnish a 
perfect vacuum. 



SPIRITISM, NE W MA TTER. 187 



XXVII. 

Spirits. — Spiritism. — Magnetism in the Inner and 
Outer-stellar Space. — The Ether, What is it ? 
— New Matter. — Creation and Evolution. 

Defining Spirit as the highest order of wisdom, 
of consciousness, we may define spiritism as the 
action of spirit on matter in a manner analogous 
to the action of thought on the brain or of the will 
on the muscles. 

In certain cases, " when we come to electricity," 
says Dr. Lodge,* " we find that some kind of mat- 
ter has more electricity associated with it than 
others, so that for a given electromotive force we 
get a greater electric displacement ; that the elec- 
tricity is, as it were, denser in some kinds of mat- 
ter than in others." We have shown (on p. 18) 
that magnetism can be condensed, compressed, and 
that, under certain conditions, what Faraday calls 
"physical lines of magnetic force," must be con- 
sidered as extending to an infinite distance. We 
know that magnetism can also be expanded. 

* Modern Views of Electricity, p. 349. 



188 SPIRITISM, NEW MATTER. 

Hence the magnetism of the asymptoid may be less 
condensed than that in the hyperboloids, to which, 
however, it must respond. 

We must further note that there are at the 
present time a certain limited number of solar 
systems containing a limited number of celestial 
bodies. Were there ever a greater number of these 
systems and bodies? Whatever may have been 
true in the past we know that, by the law of the 
conservation of forces and the indestructibility of 
matter, whatever changes there may have been in 
the number and condition of these systems and 
bodies there can never be any less or greater 
amount of force, nor any less or greater quantity 
of matter in them than now. These forces and 
this quantity of matter may be sufficient to sustain 
the present systems indefinitely in their numerous 
and varied changes. 

But it is impossible that they should furnish 
matter for any new systems. It is equally impos- 
sible to believe that the work of creation or evolu- 
tion is ended ; that no more radiant suns are to 
illumine the outer darkness ; that no other planets 
are to respond to their genial influence ; that the 
boundless realms of outer-space are to be shrouded 
in the blackness of darkness forever ; that the 
work of Deity is finished, and that God is hence- 
forth to rest content in the contemplation of a 
completed task, or rather in the suspension of the 
exercise of His omnipotent will. 



SPIRITISM, NEW MA TTER. 189 

Whence, then, is to be drawn the new matter for 
new worlds ? From the outer-stellar space. This 
infinite outer-stellar space is a reservoir containing 
an infinite supply of matter for an infinite number 
of solar systems. Since all matter is amenable to 
the magnetic force the latter becomes a carrier for 
the former, endless quantities of which it transports 
into the hyperboloids where it is transformed into 
all varieties of celestial bodies. The first form of 
transformation is "star-dust" or "world-stuff." As 
the magnetic force increases in strength the suc- 
ceeding forms are the nubeculae, nebulae, meteor- 
ites, comets, asteroids, planets and suns. These 
are constantly forming, growing, grouping accord- 
ing to the laws by which they are governed. 
While these laws are certain and persistent they 
are at the same time elastic, flexible, accommodat- 
ing in their action. Xo forces nor forms of mat- 
ter in any one hyperboloid can interfere with or 
derange the forces or forms of matter in any other 
hyperboloid. Every celestial body must revolve 
or move within the limits of the space in which it 
originated. 

Hence, by our hypothesis the illimitable stores of 
the outer-stellar space are constantly poured into 
the limited zones of the hyperboloids. Hence 
again, we have inexhaustible fuel for perpetual 
consumption, and hence also, we have in all the 
stellar and planetarj^ systems the most perfect, the 
most sublime exhibition of perpetual motion. The 



190 SPIRITISM, NEW MATTER. 

system is complete. All its forms are homogene- 
ous, harmonious. Its equilibrium is absolutely 
perfect. Its mechanism it seems impossible to 
improve. Its action is smooth, direct, orderly and 
systematic. Under it the grand processes of 
nature are carried forward and developed without 
haste and without hesitation, but with unerring 
purpose and absolute certainty. And it is auto- 
matic, self-supporting, self-sustaining. Neither its 
matter, its motion, or its force, or energy can be 
annihilated. And yet this grand sj^stem, admit- 
ting its actual existence, is as absolutely a creation 
as would be that of a single planet or a single 
organism. It is quite immaterial whether the 
ultimate end of that creation be consummated in 
six days or six millions of years. It is the result 
of a law established by an Infinite Power, an In- 
finite Will, and to such a Will, such a Power, 
instantaneous production is as easy as the most 
protracted period of evolution. 

We may here repeat our hypothesis concerning 
the origin, genesis and operation of all possible 
forms of energy. While it is no part of our 
design to discuss theological or teleological ques- 
tions, it seems necessary here to consider one point 
relating to Deity. The popular idea of God is 
that his chief attributes are omniscience, omnipo- 
tence and omnipresence. As to the latter, the 
Rev. Theodore Parker's characterization of it may 
be considered a fair expression of the popular no- 



SPIRITISM, NE W MA TTEB. 191 

tion. In one of his " Ten Sermons of Religion," 
he says : " God must be omnipresent in space. 
There can be no mote that peoples the sunbeams, 
no spot on an insect's wing, no little cell of life 
which the microscope discovers in the seed-sproule 
of a moss and brings to light, but God is there, in 
that mote, in that spot, in that cell." 

If God is in all these forms of things He 
must also be in the forms of all other things, 
all things good and beautiful, and all things vile 
and repulsive, all things lovely and clean, all 
things filthy and foul. What a very repulsive 
idea of God is this : a vague vastness, an incom- 
prehensible indefiniteness, filled with an agglomera- 
tion of all forms of matter, sheol included. 

God must have a personality, an individu- 
ality. It is impossible to love, worship, honor 
and obey a mystic immensity with everything in 
it. God is omnipresent by virtue of His omnis- 
cience. He comprehends, is conscious of every- 
thing that transpires anywhere and everywhere 
through the operation of His own laws and by the 
exercise of His own will. A being omniscient and 
omnipotent, infinite in wisdom and in power, is 
perfectly competent to fix the conditions of his 
own existence as well as the form of his own per- 
sonality. The Saviour informs us that God is a 
spirit.* Whatever His form may be, wherever it 

* St. John iv. 24. 



192 SPIRITISM, NEW MA TTER. 

is, whatever portion of space it occupies, that is 
the centre of all space, and from thence emanate 
all possible degrees and forms of energy. 

" XI. In the nature of the finite mind, as such, is 
to be found the reason why the development of its 
personal consciousness can take place only through 
the influences of that cosmic whole which the 
finite being itself is not, that is, through the stimu- 
lation coming from the Non-Ego, not because it 
needs the contrast with something alien in order 
to have self-existence, but, because, in this respect, 
as in every other, it does not contain in itself the 
conditions of its existence. We do not find this 
limitation in the being of the Infinite ; hence, for 
it alone is there possible a self-existence, which 
needs neither to be initiated, nor to be continu- 
ously developed by something not itself, but which 
maintains itself within itself with spontaneous 
action that is eternal and had no beginning. 

XII. Perfect personality is in God only ; to all 
finite minds there is allotted but a pale copy there- 
of. The finiteness of the finite is not a producing 
condition of this Personality, but a limit and a 
hindrance of its development." 

Such is Lotze's exposition of God's Personality.* 

* Microcosmus, vol. II. pp. 687, 688. 



UNIVERSES. OMNIVERSE. 193 



XXVIII. 

Universes. — Omniverse. — Stellar Systems. — Spheres 
and Planets. — Life in Them. — Degrees of 
Light. 

Our new system is composed of seven forms of 
space, one, the asymptoid, holding in its bowl, as 
before noted, the six hyperboloids. Each of these 
latter presents all the features, forces, motions and 
actions of a universe. Hence we have six uni- 
verses. As indissolubly united each with all, we 
may call the grand aggregate s}^stem the Omni- 
verse, and this omniverse is enveloped by and per- 
meated with the infinite magnesphere, whose cur- 
rents of life and force, infinite in number, are for- 
ever coursing towards its vital centre. As each 
hyperboloid may contain a number of stellar sys- 
tems, so the asymptoid may contain several celestial 
systems and spheres that may be transcendental or 
transfigured forms of the stellar systems within 
the hyperboloids. By our hypothesis there is but 
one stellar system in the Asymptoid. In the 
hyperboloids there may be an indefinite number. 

The habitable orbs in the former we designate as 
13 



194 UNIVERSES, OMNIVERSE. 

Spheres, those in the latter as Planets, and the 
sentient life existing within these supernal spheres 
may be more exalted, more spiritual, may approach 
nearer to the divine, eternal life and spirit. The 
vital, spiritual succession may be systematic, ex- 
tending from the centre outward through the 
asymptoidal and all the hyperboloidal spheres. 
The life-changes, ascending from the hyperboloidal 
spheres through those in the asymptoid to the 
supreme, vital centre, may be similar to the change 
that the mortal spirit experiences when it passes 
from earth to paradise. Thus there may be an 
endless succession of spiritual transformations, 
each change being from a lower to a loftier and 
nobler sphere of spiritual life, the constant en- 
largement of the hyperboloids and the asymptoid 
providing ample room for every new sphere with 
the ever-effluent Divinity permeating them all. 
These spheres may vary in dimensions and in- 
crease in number constantly as the asymptoid in- 
creases also in its dimensions. We may suppose 
that a vast number of the planets in the stellar 
systems are the homes of sentient beings and 
that all the spheres in the asymptoid are likewise 
so. It is utterly incredible that all these stupend- 
ous systems should have been created and set in 
motion merely to exhibit the power or to gratify a 
passing fancy of their Creator. 

" Life," says Father Secchi, " fills the universe, 
and with life is associated intelligence ; and as 



UNIVERSES, OMNIVERSE. 195 

beings inferior to ourselves abound, so may there 
in different conditions exist others of capacity in- 
finitely greater than our own. Between the feeble 
light of that divine ray which glows in our frail 
structures, by the help of which also it is permitted 
us to comprehend so many wonders, and the lofty 
wisdom of the great Author of all things, there 
may possibly be interpolated grades of created 
beings infinite in number, for some of whom 
theorems which are to us the fruit of arduous 
studies may be simple intuitions." * 

We have remarked the differentiation of the 
contents of the asymptoid from those of the hyper- 
boloids. We can better appreciate this difference 
by considering the feebleness of the light of our 
sun when compared with that of stars of greater 
magnitude. Sir John Herschel informs us that 
the intrinsic light of Alpha Centauri, one of the 
stars nearest to us, is more than twice that of our 
sun. But the light of Sirius, a star of the first 
magnitude, is more than four times that of Alpha 
Centauri; indicating that its intrinsic splendor is 
sixty-three times that of the sua. As the intrinsic 
brightness is supposed to afford some indication of 
their magnitude it follows that Sirius must be im- 
mensely larger than our sun. Its light is 26 years 

* Johnson's Cyc. , Art. The Universe, translated from the 
Italian by the late Pres. Barnard of Columbia College, one 
of the best polyglot scholars of our time, both in literature 
and science. 



196 UNIVERSES, OMNIVERSE. 

in reaching us. But the light of Capella requires 
72 years, about three times as long, and its in- 
trinsic splendor is greater than that of Sirius. 
Its proportions are bewildering and if our sun 
were placed between it and Sirius and within 
photometric range of both, it would cast a shadow 
upon Sirius, acting as a screen for the light of 
Capella. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 197 



XXIX. 

Animal Magnetism ; Psychical and Physical Force ; 
Spiritualism ; Magnetic Men and Women ; 
Subtle and Extraordinary Magnetic Energy ; 
Delirium Tremens; Love; Devotion ; Saints; 
Martyrs; Procreation of Physical TAfe ; Hered- 
ity; Pre-natal Impressions ; Seeds and Plants; 
P re-experience ; Pern in iscence ; Presentiment / 
Dreams. 

We have indicated {supra) the relation between 
Spirit and Spiritism. We conceive that the 
magnetism of the hyperboloids becomes spiritism * 
in the asymptoid. With the aid of these two 
forces — spiritism and magnetism — using the former 
in its diviner sense, we may solve the problem of 
all life. 

The numerous proofs of the existence of animal 
magnetism presented by Matteucci, Du Bois-Eay- 

* It is unfortunate that the use of this term by charlatans 
and impostors should have made it offensive ; but we ought 
not to let the abuse of a good thing impair our faith in its 
value. 



198 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

mond and others are well known and indisputable. 
Magnetic fish and birds are equally well known. 
The correlation between spiritual or psychical, 
and physical force has been abundantly demon- 
strated by Charcot, Bernheim, Kibot and other 
hypnotists and psychologists. The remarkable 
and undeniable effects produced by so-called 
spiritualists are due to the same cause. 

If we may suppose that magnetism is — next to om- 
nipotence — the fundamental force, the living force, 
the force that furnishes the vis-vitoe of all the natural 
forces, we maj^, in the sequel, use this term instead 
of electricity in the further exposition of our theme. 

Dr. Hake sets forth * that " the chemical changes 
as they occur in the blood system and (are) com- 
prised in the act of oxidation do not result in the 
evolution of heat but force which becomes magnetic 
by the agency of the blood corpuscles ; and this is 
certainly consistent with what we know of cell 
life. On this hypothesis, the blood cells form 
chains and conductors for the magnetic current thus 
generated, and this is subsequently metamorphosed 
into heat at every point of the system. On 
reaching the cerebro-vital centres it becomes vital 
force " — another name for magnetic force — " and 
this becomes eventually heat, namely : when it 
is transmitted to enable the consummation of a vital 
act, such as sensation, muscular motion or secre- 
tion 

* Kingsett's Animal Chemistry, pp. 180-181. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 199 

" The experiments of Du Bois-Raymond in par- 
ticular go to prove that nerve force is only mani- 
fested through media that are not yet met with 
out of living bodies. On Hake's hj^pothesis nerve 
force is derived from the common centre — the 
brain — where it is stored in the gray matter of 
which brain matter is partly composed and from 
which the nerve tubes spread eveiywhere." He 
further reasons that " when the cerebro-vital force 
is united in action within, in the same organic 
medium with other forces influencing us from 
without, viz. : light, sound, heat, etc., new results 
are attained and phenomena of sense and intelli- 
gence are observed." 

" Electricity is produced," says E. I. Houston,* 
" during the growth of both animals and plants." 
During active growth plants form an appreciable 
source of electricity. Buff has shown that the 
roots and interior portions of plants are always 
negatively charged, while the flowers, fruits and 
green twigs are positively charged. 

" Electricity is produced in the bodies of all 
animals during life. Some animals in addition to 
this electricity, which is essential to their life, 
possess the ability to produce sufficiently powerful 
discharges to serve as a protection against their 
enemies. This is the case both with the electric 
eel and the electric ray." 

* Electricity and Magnetism, p. 67. 



200 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

All animal tissues, molecules, cells, fibres, nerves, 
muscles and sinews are good or partial magnetic 
conductors. Their potential is proportional to the 
service they are required to perform in order to 
preserve the normal condition of the organism. 
When the organism falls into an abnormal condi- 
tion the change is due to or is followed by a dis- 
turbance of the magnetic equilibrium. 

We often hear of very magnetic men and women. 
It is not a mere unmeaning phrase. Very many 
have met such and acknowledged, without being 
able to explain, their influence. It is by one form 
of this force — magnetic — that the orator, the poet, 
the story-teller, hold and charm their audiences. It 
is this force that produces panics in excited crowds. 
It is by this force that the body, when the brain 
is in an abnormal condition, through delirium tre- 
mens or an epileptic fit, is charged with five-fold 
its normal strength, so that five men can hardly 
restrain one man. And yet, there is no change in 
the mechanism. It is the stimulus that is applied 
to the brain that produces this vast increase of 
power. This is also especially notable in men who 
are enraged or crazed. They perform wonderful 
feats of strength when excited of which they are 
utterly incapable in their sober moments. 

The extraordinary deeds of valor recorded as 
having been performed by the leaders and knights 
of the crusades and by heroes and their followers 
in every earnestly-contested defensive or aggre- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 201 

sive war are not exaggerated. They are only re- 
ports of simple facts. It is this force that enables 
men to endure the severest hardships and trials, to 
defy, if not to conquer, fate. 

It is this force that awakens love at first sight. 
It is the vibration of this force through the eyes 
that thrills the hearts of the lover and the loved. 
It is this force that inspires the soldier's courage, 
the mother's love, the saint's devotion, the martyr's 
constancy and the bigot's zeal. By this force 
prayer is borne heavenward. It swells the anthem 
of praise, the song of joy, the shout of gladness, the 
carol of birds, and develops the weird notes of 
the singing flame. 

But the intensest manifestation of this force is 
the procreation of physical life. It is only neces- 
sary to suggest the immense intensity of the sexual 
passion, the delirium of love. Remove, eliminate 
entirely that sentiment and its concomitants, that 
irresistible magnetic attraction, from the physical 
constitution, and all animal life would soon cease 
from the earth. 

Mark the horse as portrayed by Job : " The 
glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the 
valley, and rejoice th in his strength. He mocketh 
at fear, and is not affrighted ; he swalloweth the 
ground with fierceness and rage, and he smelleth the 
battle afar off." Observe the stallion when, in 
the season, he is led forth for exercise. Mark his 
expanded nostrils, his flashing eyes, his mobile 



202 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

ears, his magnificent crest, his silken, shining 
coat, his distended veins and muscles, his lofty, 
elastic tread which seems scarcely to touch the 
earth, and his vigorous and graceful motions. 
What an embodiment of passion and of power, and 
what a magnificent magneto-calorific machine ! 

The perpetuation of the human race involves 
the awful responsibilities of heredity. We know 
the inexorable fidelity with which parental traits, 
both physical and mental, are transmitted to the 
offspring. It is one of the most remarkable in- 
stances of the persistence of force. And one of 
the most extraordinary phenomena of heredity is 
the one by which any particular trait may be em- 
phasized by a pre-natal impression or influence, 
commonly known as the " birth-mark." 

In these cases a sudden and strong excitement 
of the brain and nerve-power of the mother causes 
great surprise or fear, such as seeing some very 
repulsive object or some scene in which certain 
objects, attractive or repulsive, are specially notice- 
able. The result is that an indelible mark or 
image is fixed upon the body of the unborn infant. 
This is an instance in which the psychical and 
physical forces act at once and together in perfect 
accord. 

" Sensations and ideas," says Lewes, "spring up 
in the mind as flowers spring up in the field. 
.... Science is prompted to seek out the con- 
ditions of their appearance, their changes and their 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 203 

disappearance. .... We know that a seed placed 
in suitable soil will throw out root and stem. We 
can trace its development as it draws certain materi- 
als from the soil and the atmosphere. But we know 
(also) that the seed itself is a product, and has 
its own special determinism. The forms which the 
seed assumes are partly peculiar to it and partly 
common to myriads of others, nay, some of its forms 
are common to all plants whatever." 

Concerning the electricity of plants, the follow- 
ing conclusions were arrived at by Wartman (Bib- 
liotheque Universelle cle Geneve, Dec, 1850), 
after an investigation continued for two years : — 

"1. Electric currents are to be detected in all 
parts of vegetables but those furnished with insu- 
lating substances, old bark, etc., etc. 

" 2. These currents occur at all times and 
seasons, and even when the portion examined is 
separated from the body of the plant, as long as it 
continues moist. 

" 3. In the roots, stems, branches, petioles, and 
peduncles, there exists a central descending and a 
peripherical ascending current ; Wartman calls 
them axial currents. 

" 4. Lateral currents may be detected passing 
from the layers of the stem where the liber and 
alburnum touch, to the surrounding parts. 

"5. In the leaf the current passes from the 
lamina to the nerves as well as to the central parts 
of the petiole and stalk. 



204 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

" 6. In the flowers the currents are feeble. They 
are very marked in the succulent fruits, and in 
some kinds of grain ; the currents from fruits pro- 
ceeding in most cases from the superficial parts to 
the adjacent organs. The strength of the currents 
depends on the season, they are greatest in the 
spring when the plant is bathed in sap. 

" 7. Currents can also be detected proceeding 
from the plant to the soil, which is thus positive 
with relation to it, and currents are also manifested 
when two distinct plants are placed in the circuit 
of the rheometer." 

These results were confirmed by Becquerel 
(Comptes-Rendus, Nov. 4, 1850). He ascertained 
particularly the determination of electrical currents 
from the pith of the wood to the bark, which shows 
that the earth in the act of vegetation continually 
acquires an excess of positive electricity ; and the 
parenchyma of the bark and a part of the wood 
an excess of negative electricity, which is trans- 
mitted to the air by means of the vapor of exhaled 
water ; and the opposite electrical states of vege- 
tables and the earth give reason to think that, from 
the enormous vegetation in some parts of the globe, 
they must exert some influence on the electric 
phenomena of the atmosphere. 

Flashes of light have been seen to be emitted 
from many flowers, principally orange-colored 
flowers, soon after sunset on sultry days; this 
phenomenon was diligently studied by Zawadski ; 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 205 

he noticed that it occurred most frequently in the 
months of July and August, and he observed that 
the same flower discharged a number of flashes in 
succession.* 

From the bosom of the earth have been gathered, 
since the first appearance of man upon it, all the 
grains and other forms of vegetable nourishment 
that help to sustain his body and promote its phys- 
ical growth. The germs of the last year's growth 
of these numerous and varied forms of life were 
contained in the seeds' of their generators of the 
preceding year, and thus it hath been, and thus 
it will continue to be in all the coming years. 
Whence cometh this vitality? And how is the 
peculiar and individual form of vitality secured to 
each of the myriad germs ? What was the origin 
of what has been happily designated as the " deter- 
minism " of these germs, the function which gave 
them their peculiar character ? That determinism 
is as much a creation of, or derivation from, the 
Omnipotent Power as is the soul or spiritual faculty 
of man. Is it the will of the plant? Why should 
the infinitesimal germ perpetuate one form of life 
more than another, and this invariably, and with 
unfailing certainty through all ages ? Simply be- 
cause that determinism is a manifestation of the 
Will of God through fixed laws. 

Says St. Paul,f " And that which thou sowest, 

* Noad Text Book of Electricity, p. 13, 14, 15. 
t I. Corinthians, xv. 37, 38. 



206 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare 
grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other 
grain : But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased 
Him, and to every seed its own body." 

" There are,'' says Lewes, " conditions and pre- 
conditions of experience as there are conditions 
and pre-conditions of plant life." Many persons 
who have experienced bodily suffering from wounds 
or from the loss of limbs have described, and in- 
sisted that they feel a return, a distinct reminder 
of their suffering on each anniversary of its occur- 
rence. An African traveller (Dr. Livingstone?), 
was wounded by a lion in the interior of Africa. 
Annually on the return of the day on which he 
was wounded the pain of the wound was renewed. 

Many soldiers who have lost limbs in battle have 
insisted that on the return of the day when they 
were amputated they felt their presence with little 
or no suffering. Has the old Pythagorean doctrine 
of pre-existence a realistic foundation ? 

Are we subject to some persistent, subtle force 
that has a wave-length of twelve months' duration ? 
Are these indications or suggestions of those twi- 
light reminiscences of events and scenes of the long- 
ago and far-away that come back to us with a force 
and vividness that almost compel us to believe that 
they are the return, the resurrection of long-for- 
gotten realities, while at the same time we are cer- 
tain that they have never formed any part of our 
mortal experience? Are they wave-motions of a 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FOBCE. 207 

past existence which are to roll on through the 
endless hereafter ? Are they connecting links 
between the mortal and immortal spirit, the sen- 
tiency that has lived through all the past and will 
live on through all the future ? 

These re-cognitions are beyond the reach of ex- 
periment, but there are few thoughtful persons with 
whom they have not been incidents of experience. 
The faculties of reminiscence and presentiment are 
among the most subtle and interesting phenomena 
of psychology. We can cultivate and strengthen 
the memory, and thereby increase our store of 
knowledge ; but no possible training can enable us 
to recall the vast number of scenes and events 
which have constituted the whole experience of 
our past lives. Yet the enduring and ever-sentient 
mental palimpsest may restore them to our cog- 
nizance when it is liberated from the fleshly taber- 
nacle. 

" Inasmuch as the idea of a movement is only an 
idea of a sensory impression," says Ferrier (Func- 
tions of the Brain, p. 389), " visual, tactile and 
others, which coincide with the particular move- 
ment, it seems quite possible that persons who 
have had a limb amputated may be able to picture 
a movement of the limb, just as a blind man ma}^ 
recall a scene when he can no longer see," then he 
quotes cases mentioned by Weir-Mitchell, of per- 
sons who have had an arm amputated and are able 
to write and apparently execute a movement of the 



208 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FOBCE. 

hand, and also to feel the pain of the amputation, 
the stronger the will the stronger the pain. But 
these are very different from the cases above re- 
ferred to. These last are wholly involuntary sen- 
sations impressed upon the mind or recalled to the 
memory entirely independent of the will, and ac- 
companied by a sense of pain that the will cannot 
inflict. We have a more or less acute sense of pain 
in our dreams, and so have the victims of catalepsy 
or delirium tremens ; but it is wholly involuntary. 

We know the marvellous activity, at times, of 
the brain when the body is asleep. We dream of 
exercising the five senses, of doing everything we 
are capable of doing when awake. And we dream 
of doing work in a few moments, of finishing tasks, 
of performing feats, mental and physical, that 
would require days to accomplish during our 
waking hours. 

If the spirit is so wonderfully active when con- 
nected with the body, how intense must be that ac- 
tivity when it is disembodied, when it has shuffled 
off this mortal coil. Its intensified consciousness 
and power of perception must enable it to compre- 
hend, as it were, instantaneously a succession of 
acts and events which could only be the result of a 
comparatively long mortal experience occupying 
a considerable lapse of time. And this power of 
comprehension, this quickness of perception are to 
continue forever, constantly acquiring knowledge, 
constantly accumulating wisdom, constantly ap- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 209 

proaching Deity. And this must be the supreme 
bliss of immortality, the perpetual inspiration of 
the " everlasting song." 

•If the comprehension of the mortal spirit can be 
so intensely active, how intense, instantaneous, im- 
minent and effective must be the comprehension, 
the ever-consciousness, of God ! 

Dreams differ from presentiments in that they 
may present to the mind images and incidents both 
of the past and the future. In both dreams and 
presentiments the images, scenes and incidents 
presented to the mind maj^ be agreeable, joj^ous, 
delightful, or disagreeable, painful, torturing. In 
some cases the suffering is intense. It is doubtful 
whether the martyr at the stake suffers more agony 
bodily than does the victim of delirium tremens 
mentally. 

But far more subtle and occult is the faculty, if 
such it may be called, of presentiment. It is en- 
tirely beyond the possibility of pre-experience. It 
is a presentment of something that lies in the 
future and is to be presented, made known to us. 
It is the psychologic analogue of inspiration, 
prophecy. 

Some years ago a writer in the Atlantic Monthly 

Magazine expressed himself as " curious to know 

whether the recurrence of the same dream or the 

same class of dreams for long periods is a common 

experience." I doubt not that it is a somewhat 

frequent, if not common, experience, and at that 
14 



210 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

time I recorded, but did not publish, the following 
experience of my own : 

For nearly half a century, at intervals varying 
from six to twenty-four months and growing a 
little longer with the lapse of years, one remark- 
able dream has been impressed upon my mind with 
unusual force and distinctness. It is this: that I 
was endowed with an inherent force that enabled 
me to overcome the action of gravity and move 
through space in any direction but always in curves 
with a wave-like motion and with different veloci- 
ties. There was a constant, conscious and vigor- 
ous exercise of the will in controlling and direct- 
ing the motor-power, which seemed to have its 
origin in the brain and chest, and was as distinctly 
felt as what is called a thrill, differing from this 
only that it was continuous. The bodily investi- 
ture was a flowing robe of ample dimensions and 
graceful form. The arms were generally folded 
on the breast but the right arm sometimes waved in 
gestures to friends beneath. No particular use 
was made of the nether limbs except to pose them 
gracefully as the variation of the movements might 
require. During a number of the earliest of these 
visitations the predominant feeling was one of 
wonder and surprise that the subject of them had 
acquired such a novel and mysterious means of 
locomotion and with much pleasurable excitement 
he called attention to it. There seemed to be no 
particular end in view, no special purpose to be 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 211 

accomplished. It was a condition of active, care- 
free enjoyment. It was not like flying, for the 
mechanism of wings was entirely wanting. The 
motion was produced and governed by an inherent 
energy, a latent, odyllic force that was perfectly 
controlled by the will. The sensation excited was 
like that which we may suppose is experienced 
by soaring birds as they traverse the air. 

For some years these visitations occurred within 
the walls of a room and in the presence of friends, 
the former growing larger in size and the latter 
increasing in number. But after a time there 
were changes. The first was this : The dreamer 
was with a large party of friends who had gone 
out in a beautiful June day to absorb the electric 
sunlight, to breathe the bracing ozonic air and to 
recreate with the birds, the flowers and the trees. 
The strange power became operative. The 
dreamer rose in the air and circled round in wide 
and wider curves — calm, serene, buoyant and 
happy in the exercise of this strange power ; regard- 
ing his friends who were looking up to him from 
below, with infinite interest and wishing that they 
might be similarly endowed and join him in his 
aerial flights. High and higher he soared, and 
fast and faster he swept around the widening hori- 
zons, returning again and again to his friends with 
increasing satisfaction and regard. The serene and 
pleasurable emotions with which he began his 
flights were soon changed to exuberant gladness, 



212 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

exultant joy and profound gratitude for this mar- 
vellous gift. As is often the case in dreams, the 
matter was logically discussed with friends and it 
was settled that this was not a mere dream but a 
marvellous reality by which a mortal had been mi- 
raculously endowed. The vision at each return 
may have occupied ten minutes' time, but the 
dreamer seemed to have enjoyed some hours of 
great happiness. 

After having these remarkable visions at vari- 
ous intervals for more than forty years, the in- 
tervals growing longer with increasing age, an- 
other change occurred, the mode of motion changed. 
Instead of soaring upward the dreamer sat on a 
handsome hand-sled such as he used in his boy- 
hood. Seated on this with his feet on the front 
bar he seemed to be endowed with the same mar- 
vellous power with which he rose into the air and 
by the aid of which he propelled the sled with 
great velocity across ice or well-beaten snow-paths. 
There were no friends or spectators to witness 
these rides, and a singular circumstance was the}" 
did not terminate at any particular place, but both 
the dreamer and the sled seemed to vanish in the air. 

Now a word as to the origin of these visions. 
When a boy of twelve years, more than threescore 
and ten years ago, I went " to meeting " as all 
New England people did in those days, in the old- 
fashioned "meeting-house" with its two galleries 
with a high, arched ceiling between them and a 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 213 

row of windows opening into each. On a beauti- 
ful June Sunday, the windows being open, two 
swallows flew into one of them. Rising into the 
arch overhead they circled around chirruping and 
coqueting with each other in the most charming 
manner and attracting the attention of the whole 
congregation. As I watched them from the " boys' 
seat " in the " men's gallery " I became more in- 
terested in them than in the sermon and, boy-like, 
my imagination took flight with the swallows. I 
thought what a charming way it was to move 
about ; what delightful sensations they must ex- 
perience as they swept around in their wave-like 
undulations with no ruts or stones or other 
obstacles to impede their exhilarating flight which 
they could arrest and renew at will. 

Then I thought of our Sunday-school teachings 
concerning the angels who, bearing messages of 
love or performing deeds of mercy, swept on ex- 
ulting wings through boundless space, companions 
of, stars and travellers of the Milky Way. This 
was the root-conception of the soaring dream. 
That of the terrestrial gliding had a different origin. 
In those days there were no fancy sleds for sale 
and the boys were dependent on home-production. 
My brother and myself had a famous one, a regular 
frame sled made by a wagonmaker and shod with 
thin strap-iron runners ground smooth. The velo- 
city with which it rushed down the steep New 
England hills literally took our breath away so that 



214 ANIMAL MAGNETISM, PSYCHIC FORCE. 

we were obliged to turn our heads sidewise in 
order to breathe. The speed acquired was such 
as to take us a comparatively long way across the 
levels at the foot of the hills. We had no success- 
ful rivals and the exercise was most exhilarating. 
The mental impression was carried into future 
years and developed in our dream. The first of 
the dreams did not transpire until more than a score 
of years after the events described. 



PSYCHIC EXPERIESCES. 215 



XXX. 

9 

Thought-transference ; Mind Re ading; Spiritualism; 
Personal Experience ; Systematic Investigation; 
Amazing Developments; Aerial Music; Music 
from Piano Keys, with Harp Accompaniment on 
the Strings; Piano beating time to its own tune; 
Trance Speaking and Writing; Planchette ; 
Mental Conversation. 

Among "influences " to be investigated Bacon * 
mentions " the sympathy of distant objects, the 
transmission of impressions from spirit to spirit no 
less than from body to body." The psychologic 
phenomena of mind-reading and thought-transfer- 
ence, and also the remarkable exhibitions of the 
spiritualists, are so well known that it is not nec- 
essary to quote the evidence of Owen, Charcot, 
Ribot, Bernheim, Bjonstrom and other writers to 
confirm them. 

As something original in this direction we shall 
relate some within our own experience, and, in so 
doing, speak in the first person singular in the 
closing sentences. 

* Nov. Org., Aph. 31. 



216 PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 

Judge S., a distinguished jurist, Mr. P., a dis- 
tinguished graduate of Cambridge, who finished 
his classical education at Heidelburg and Breslau, 
with myself and nine others, undertook, in a quiet 
way, and purely in the interest of science, to in- 
vestigate the phenomena of spiritualism. Of this 
circle of twelve, six were ladies and six gentle- 
men, all educated Christian people who met fort- 
nightly in their own homes. There were two 
impressionists who possessed spiritual gifts, one 
a young woman, twenty-seven years of age, of 
respectable Methodist parentage, with limited 
education, modest in demeanor and in delicate 
health. The other was a respectable and success- 
ful country merchant in the prime of life and in 
perfect health. 

Neither ever exhibited in public or for gain. 
The young woman developed into a writing me- 
dium, with the additional power imparted by a 
certain prescience of the mysterious force that 
enabled her to interpret it verbally without going 
into the trance state. 

The gentleman was a subjective medium, that 
is, the force took possession of him and governed 
his actions. Most of the phenomena were exhib- 
ited in half-lights, but occasionally in daylight. 
We could always see the action of the mediums. 
When we met, the ladies and gentlemen, by direc- 
tions received through Miss B., sat alternately in 
a circle. Half of them were members of church 



PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 217 

choirs, with fair musical accomplishments. The 
first spiritual requirement was the singing of a 
certain metrical version of the Lord's Prayer, which 
was duly rendered by the singers, and in the last 
line there was generally a sweet, plaintive accom- 
paniment from a voice in the air. 

Then followed the phenomenal performances. 
A heavy square-box piano was placed in one cor- 
ner of the room with the key-board close to the 
Avail and the top raised full height. At the free 
corner of the piano sat Miss B., with her right 
hand on it. Various musical numbers were per- 
formed by the keys alone. The most remarkable 
one was called " The Wreck," which set forth 
musically the wreck of a ship in a terrible gale. 
The performance was amazing in its grandeur and 
sublimity. Commencing w^ith a cheerful, moder- 
ately animated strain, like a ship leaving harbor 
before a pleasant breeze, with the water gently 
plashing its prow, it gradually became stronger 
and louder until the wind grew to a gale and the 
gale to a hurricane. The roaring of the wind, the 
whistling noise among the shrouds, the tearing 
and flapping of the sails, the hissing of the waves, 
the great breaking swash of the water over the 
decks, the creaking of the timbers, the groaning 
and breaking of the masts, and the snapping of 
the cordage as they went by the board, and finally 
the muffled, gurgling sound with which she went 
down, was given with a fearful vividness and 



218 PSYCHIC EXPEBIENCES. 

power that literally made our hair stand on end. 
We could feel the strong undulations of the 
mighty force of sound as it vibrated along the 
floor and trembled in our chairs. At times it 
seemed as though every string in the instrument 
must be broken and its frame burst asunder. 

At other times we were favored with exquisite 
renderings of familiar airs. Occasionally with 
these there was exhibited this remarkable phenom- 
enon : while the keys were giving the air, a delight- 
ful harp-accompaniment was performed on the 
strings of the instrument in a note above or below 
the air itself. The effect was weird and delightful 
in the extreme. 

Sometimes a waltz would be followed by a rat- 
tling fugue in which all the strings seemed to be 
taxed beyond their utmost strength, as though all 
the bolts of Jove were thundering through them. 
Daring all this time the medium was sitting with 
one hand on the corner of the piano, but not near 
enough to the keys to reach them even if she had 
desired to do so. 

The furniture and other articles were set in 
motion, until the room was alive with their antics. 
Sofa-cushions, chairs, books and papers waltzed 
and galloped with each other in the most ludicrous 
manner. A flute lying on a table was taken apart 
and its joints sent to take part in this devil's dance. 
A bell on the mantle was lifted and jingled vigor- 
ously. 



PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 219 

But the most amazing exhibition of force was 
presented by the heavy piano while a lively tune 
was played by the keys. It was lifted bodily from 
the floor, and then the time of the air was gently 
beaten on the floor by one of the legs, all the rest 
of the instrument being in the air. Let it be 
borne in mind that there was sufficient light in 
the room to permit us to see all these actions. 

On another occasion the performances were sud- 
denly checked and the hostess of that evening — 
Mrs. Dr. S. — was directed to send away " those 
persons that were listening in the adjoining room " 
— the front parlor. Entering it with a light the 
two servant girls were found without their shoes, 
listening at the partition wall. Of course we 
knew nothing of their presence. 

With the male medium we had the following 
experiences : He was directed, through Miss B., 
to stand in the centre of the room, and two ladies 
and two gentlemen were directed to inclose him 
within their joined hands. He then was thrown 
into a trance. His right hand was raised straight 
above his head. He asked that a lead-pencil 
should be put in it, which was done. Then his 
hand began to move as if in the act of writing. 
When its motion ceased it fell by his side and we 
were directed, through Miss B., to search the 
walls. The ceiling of the room was high and 
arched. The ground color of the paper covering 



220 PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 

the side walls was a pale lemon, the figures being 
vines and leaves in neutral tints. 

On one corner of the white ceiling, just above 
the cornice, we found written in excellent chiro- 
graphy — the text-letters being more than half an 
inch long and the capitals in proportion — these 
words, " God is Love." In the other corner of the 
same side was written in the same style, " God is 
Light." On one of the end walls was the single 
word " Harmony," written diagonally upward on 
the ground color of the paper. The medium 
stated that he felt the tremor or vibration im- 
parted to his fingers through the pencil as in the 
act of writing but had no idea what he wrote. 

He was then directed to take his stand in front 
of the mantelpiece and, passing into a trance, he 
began the delivery of a most animating harangue 
in a pleasant, liquid Indian dialect, conspicuous 
for the absence of labials and the accentuation of 
all the vowels. We were within four miles of the 
Tuscarora Eeservation in Niagara County. He 
was frequently interrupted by the most hearty ap- 
plause, given apparently, by a band of Indians 
gathered near him on his right front. This ap- 
plause was given viva-voce in Indian dialect and 
by clapping hands. Judging from its vigor and 
the number of voices, it seemed that there must 
have been a hundred or more in the audience. 

The medium, retaining his position and trance 
condition, followed this performance with a most 



PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 221 

eloquent speech in Hungarian, the spell of Kos- 
suth's eloquence still lingering in the country after 
his then recent departure. It was received with 
grave and earnest applause by a gathering of invi- 
sible Magyars who seemed to be as numerous as 
the Indians. When the medium came out of his 
trance he nearly lost his balance, and was assisted 
by one of the gentlemen present. 

Prof. Crooke in the article on Spiritualism 
published many years since in the " British Quar- 
terly Review," which created such a sensation at 
the time, mentions the case of a medium who ex- 
perienced, although in perfect health, a remark- 
able change in weight. A curious effect of this 
force on our male medium was that in two years 
his head was enlarged so that he was obliged to 
wear a hat a size larger than he had been accus- 
tomed to wear. This was a growth similar to 
some magnetic growths, so to call them, described 
in the sequel. 

Another experience, of which I will write in 
the first person singular, was the following : Being 
in the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., I made a morning 
call on a young married lady, a relative, an educated, 
accomplished woman, a fine musician, of genial 
and magnetic temperament. The evening before at 
a social gathering, she had been much interested in 
the performance of a Planchette there exhibited 
when that mysterious piece of mechanism was first 
introduced in this country. 



222 PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 

As I had not seen one, she borrowed of her 
friend the one they had used. It responded to her 
touch but not to mine. She had been a church 
member for a number of years, and would have 
been shocked at the slightest suggestion of any 
contact with spiritualism. But my previous ex- 
perience enabled me to divine at once the character 
of the developments. She asked several questions, 
to which correct answers, as she stated, were 
written on the blank paper on which it stood. She 
then asked, " who is this gentleman with me ? " 
My name was correctly written in reply. Then I 
asked, " is any one present willing to communicate 
with me." " Yes," was the written answer. 
" Who is it ? " After a pause the reply w r as 
" Edith," the name of a beautiful and precocious 
child of twelve summers w r ho had died eight years 
before of a disease, the precise character of which 
the doctors could not determine. 

After several other questions, to which accurate 
answers Avere given, I asked, " Edith, can you 
answer mental questions ? " The written reply was, 
" Yes." I then asked her mentally many questions 
about persons whom she had known, about scenes 
with which she had been familiar, about different 
events and changes that had occurred since her 
death. In reply to the question as to what caused 
her death, the answer was "peritonitis," a word 
she never could have heard during her life and the 
import of which she did not know. The prompt- 



PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 223 

ness and correctness of her answers concerning 
various events and changes, births, deaths, mar- 
riages, social and neighborhood incidents, were 
startling. After many tests of this character I 
asked mentally, " Edith, does my mind react 
upon itself through the agency of this instrument, 
or does your mind respond to mine ! " The an- 
swer was : " My mind responds directly to yours 
through it." Finally, my parting thought was 
this : " Well, dear Edith, I expect to leave for 
home to-morrow ; have you any message for mother 
or sister L.?" Reply, "Only dear love and tell 
them to be prepared to meet me here." 

It will be noted that these questions were all 
mentally suggested without the utterance of a 
sound, and that my lady friend had only two 
fingers of one hand on the instrument, and all 
the answers were written promptly, connectedly 
and distinctly. At no time while the interview 
was progressing did I touch the instrument. 

After these experiences it is impossible for me to 
doubt that, under favorable conditions, there may 
be communion between the spirits of those who are 
mortal and of those who have put on immor- 
tality. 

The persistence of natural forces and the inde- 
structibility of matter are demonstrated, undoubted 
truths. It is entirely unphilosophical, unreason- 
able and illogical to suppose that spirit which 
dominates matter, makes it subservient to its con- 



224 PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 

venience, its use and its pleasure, is not more em- 
phatically absolute, persistent and indestructible. 
Since the experiences here recorded I have never 
found it convenient or practicable to pursue the 
subject further. 

We cannot resist the temptation to record here 
another remarkable instance of spiritual influence 
upon the mind furnished by Miss Elizabeth Doten 
at the close of a lecture delivered in Boston some 
years ago. Miss Doten was, at that time, a young 
woman of respectable parentage, irreproachable 
character and uneducated. She was entirely in- 
competent to originate or parody any respectable 
poetical composition in her normal state. She 
could, no more than many others, give any satis- 
factory explanation of her peculiar gift. The 
piece is a remarkable parody of Poe's most remark- 
able poem, The Raven. 

i. 

From the throne of life eternal, 

From the home of love supernal 
Where the angel feet make music over all the stony floor — 

Mortals, I have come to meet you, 

Come with words of peace to greet you 
And to tell you of the glory that is mine for evermore. 

II. 

Once before I found a mortal 

Waiting at the heavenly portal — 
Waiting but to catch some echo from that ever-opening door : 

Then I seized his quickened being, 

And, through all his inward seeing, 
Caused my burning inspiration in a fiery flood to pour I 



PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 225 

m. 

Now I come more meekly human, 
And the poor weak lips of woman 
Touch with fire from off the altar, not with burnings as of 
yore, 
But in holy love descending, 
With her chastened being blending, 
I would fill your souls with music from the bright celestial 
shore. 

IV. 

As one heart yearns for another, 

As a child turns to his mother, 
From the golden gates of glory turn I to the earth once more, 

Where I drained the cup of sadness, 

Where my soul was stung to madness, 
And life's bitter, burning billows, swept my burdened being 



Here the harpies and the ravens, 
Human vampyres — sordid cravens — 
Preyed upon my soul and substance till I writhed in anguish 
sore ; 
Life and I seemed mismated, 
For I felt accursed and fated, 
Like a restless, wrathful spirit, wandering on the Stygian 
shore. 

VI. 

Tortured by a nameless yearning, 
Like a frost-fire, freezing, burning, 
Did the purple pulsing life-tide through its fevered channels 
pour, 
'Till the golden bowl — life's token — 
Into shining shards was broken, 
And my chained and chafing spirit leapt from out its prison 
door. 
15 



226 PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 

VII. 

But while living, striving, dying, 

Never did my soul cease crying : 
" Ye who guide the fates and furies, give, oh ! give me, I 
implore, 

From the myriad hosts of nations, 

From the countless constellations, 
One pure spirit that can love me — one that I, too, can adore ! " 



vni. 

Through this fervent aspiration 
Found my fainting soul salvation, 
For from out its blackened fire-crypts did my quickened 
spirit soar ; 
And my beautiful ideal — 
Not too saintly to be real — 
Burst more brightly on my vision than the fancy-formed 
Lenore. 

IX. 

'Mid the surging seas she found me, 
With the billows breaking round me, 

And my saddened, sinking spirit, in her arms of love implore; 
Like a lone one, weak and weary, 
"Wandering in the midnight dreary, 

On her sinless, saintly bosom, brought me to the heavenly 
shore. 

x. 

Like the breath of blossoms blending, 

Like the prayers of saints ascending, 
Like the rainbow's seven-hued glory, blend our souls for- 
evermore. 

Earthly love and lust enslaved me, 

But divinest love hath saved me, 
And I know now, first and only, how to love and to adore. 



PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 227 

XI. 

Oh, my mortal friends and brothers, 

We are each and all another's, 
And the sonl that gives most freely from its treasure hath 
the more. 

Would you lose your life, you find it ; 

And in giving love you bind it, 
Like an amulet of safety, to your heart f orevermore ! 

The rhythm and alliteration are as marvellous 
as in the original. No genius could have written 
this and then allowed Miss Doten to commit it to 
memory and claim it as an inspiration of her own, 
spiritual or otherwise. 

There are no facts or truths connected with 
human history that are more thoroughly authen- 
ticated and established than those regarding the 
intimate connection and communion of the Infinite 
and the finite mind. The Old and New Testaments 
contain abundant records of their inter-communions. 
The Prophets and Apostles were its most illustri- 
ous mediums, the Saviour being the immediate 
and absolute representative of Deity. It is not 
creditable to the status of occidental Psychology 
and Biology that it declines or neglects to system- 
atically and thoroughly investigate the spiritual 
and the cognate forces. This investigation in all 
its branches cannot well be pursued by single in- 
dividuals. We know that there are certain mag- 
netic currents that increase their potency when 
they work together side by side. So with spiritual 



228 PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES. 

and occult forces. They are most potent when a 
number of them are united in action. But it is 
the spirit that actuates the investigators, the motive 
that prompts their labor that is of most vital conse- 
quence. When a chemist resolves to study some 
new substance said to possess valuable properties 
that may be useful, sanitarily or otherwise, he does 
not begin in a doubting skeptical temper, pre- 
judging it perhaps as a bit of quackery that he will 
expose ; on the contrary, he makes due preparation 
and determines to study the case in a kindly, 
earnest, receptive spirit, and it is only in this spirit 
that such subjects can be successfully investiga- 
ted. 



A SUBTLE FORCE. 229 



XXXI. 

Remarkable Action of a Subtle Force, Reappearance 
of Lost Articles. 

I may here record a few instances of the remark- 
able action of a subtle force, that, if not magnet- 
ism, must have been spiritual. The first notice of 
the action of a similar force is recorded in the last 
verses of the eighth chapter of Acts, when Philip 
after baptizing the Ethiopian was " caught away" 
and " was found at Azotus." It is necessary to 
give some particulars in order that the phenomena 
may be understood. 

In 1877 my residence was, as it had been nearly 
forty years, at Niagara Falls, N. Y. My house 
and grounds, garden included, were on the shore 
of the great river just above the American rapids. 
The outlook from my bedroom was eastward 
across the garden and up the river. Next the 
window, north, stood a bureau, then a closet, with 
washstand in opposite corner. A chair, always 
used in disrobing and dressing, stood in front of the 
bureau. On retiring one night in the latter part 



230 A SUBTLE FORCE. 

of June, 1877, I missed my gold eyeglasses. The 
next morning I found them in a favorite straw- 
berry bed over which I had been working the pre- 
vious afternoon. Two weeks later I missed them 
again and not finding them I bought a new pair 
in a cellulose frame. In the morning when dress- 
ing I always sat in the chair in front of the bureau 
near the bed. 

Six months after losing the glasses, one morning, 
on rising, I occupied the chair as usual, and after 
getting on my nether garments and performing the 
usual ablution at the washstand, I returned to the 
bureau, and using the mirror standing on it put 
on my neck-tie. On turning to get my vest which, 
with the coat, hung on the chair-back, I saw the 
gold glasses lying on the bottom of the chair which 
I had occupied but a few minutes before. It was 
a surprise, for it was winter, and the coat and vest 
were not the same I had worn when the glasses 
were lost. I could not solve the mystery, and 
the circumstance passed out of my mind. About 
a year afterward I lost the gold glasses again 
and resumed the use of the cellulose pair which I 
had laid aside after finding the gold ones which 
I never saw again. Within two months I lost the 
cellulose glasses, and then had double half-lenses 
for reading and far-seeing put in my gold spec- 
tacles. 

In 1881, after a sore domestic bereavement left 
me alone in my house, I removed to Ithaca to make 



A SUBTLE FORCE. 231 

my home with the last survivor of my children, 
the wife of Prof. I. P. Church. 

In the autumn of the year 1882, I went to 
Niagara on business, and took a chamber in my 
house then occupied by a tenant. My baggage 
consisted of a double valise of moderate size with a 
swinging partition between the two compartments. 
Its interior was lined with cloth, without folds or 
creases. Its contents were a dress-suit, shirts, 
collars, cuffs, handkerchiefs, socks, and other small 
articles. On taking possession of my room I put 
the dress-suit, coat, vest and pantaloons and the 
shirts in the drawers of a bureau standing in a cor- 
ner opposite the bed, and on the top of the bureau 
I put some toilet articles, leaving nothing in the 
valise but some handkerchiefs and socks. The 
dress-suit I had worn repeatedly, always emptying 
the pockets after use. 

When ready to pack my valise to return to 
Ithaca, I took it up, opened it, turned it bottom up, 
emptying the few contents on the bed, and then 
placed it, right side up, in a chair at the foot of 
the bed. I then went to the bureau, took from the 
drawer the dress-suit — which I had had no occa- 
sion to wear — and on returning to the valise to 
put it in I saw lying in the middle of one of the 
compartments the lost eyeglasses which I had not 
seen for nearly a year. By what mysterious agency 
they came out of the unknown and into the valise 
I cannot divine. 



232 A SUBTLE FORCE. 

These two instances of the exhibition of this 
peculiar force were surprising, but the next one I 
have to relate was bewildering. Like the others 
it needs a word of preface. I carried when travel- 
ing, a small tortoise-shell comb in a morocco case. 
The comb was of peculiar shape the back being 
straight, the teeth at one end about five-eighths of 
an inch long, and at the other end a little shorter. 
On one occasion while using it to comb out a wire- 
tooth hair-brush, one of the teeth near the broad 
end was broken out. I carried it in a vest-pocket 
and only when traveling. In May, 1893, expect- 
ing to spend some weeks at the World's Fair, I 
had made by a city tailor a suit, coat, vest, and 
pantaloons for the summer's wear. When they 
were sent home I put them on and found that 
the pantaloons needed some alteration. This was 
made by the tailor and they were returned. On 
taking them to my room, opening the package and 
shaking out the garment that comb without the case 
dropped on the carpet. I was indeed astonished, 
for I had not seen it for ten years, and then it was in 
the case and in a bureau drawer. That it was the 
same comb was demonstrated by its peculiar shape 
and the lost tooth. At the tailor's where the gar- 
ment was made nothing of the kind had been seen. 
Such are the simple facts in these three cases of 
the re-appearance of lost articles. 



PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, 233 



XXXII. 

Personal Experience in Animal Magnetism; Re- 
sults; Physical and Mental. 

As connected with the subject of personal ani- 
mal magnetism, I may be pardoned for saying, 
that in my younger days and during the prime of 
life, I had the power to exhibit that force in cer- 
tain directions in a remarkable manner, both vol- 
untarily and involuntarily. Involuntarily, while 
reading sublime or unusually impressive passages 
from Isaiah, Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe or other 
authors of similar intellectual power. At such 
times I felt a thrill commencing at the brain and 
coursing through the nervous system precisely 
similar to the excitement produced by holding in 
the hands, or applying to any part of the body, 
the electrodes of an electric machine. The only 
difference was that the vibrations through the 
nerves were more rapid than those through the 
conductors, so that the sensation was like the 
steady flow of a uniform current. At the same 
time I could feel the effect in the roots of the hair 



234 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. 

on my head, though the force was not sufficient 
to raise it on end. 

It was sufficient, however, to elevate the short, 
fine hirsute filaments growing more sparsely on 
other parts of the body. This was especially true 
of those growing on the lower limbs, particularly 
on the front side from the knee upward, and I 
cultivated this faculty to such an extent that by 
putting the foot of the bare leg on a chair I could 
repeat striking passages from any favorite author 
and see and feel the filaments as they rose and fell 
with the varying sensations. 

This is simply the function exercised by the dog 
and the cat, especially when excited, and it is con- 
clusive proof that hair is a good magnetic con- 
ductor. The experiment of Laer noted on page 
44 is confirmatory of the same fact. On page 31 
we have shown that pointed magnets are more 
effective than spheres, cylinders or any solid with 
blunt ends, and that the greatest magnetic power 
is developed at the points. This is as true of hair 
as of any other conductor. 

Note. — It may serve a practical purpose to note here that 
the quality, the fineness and beauty of human hair are in- 
jured by cutting. When examined under the microscope 
human hair, as well as all other in its natural condition, is 
found to be pointed at the end. After it is cut, at whatever 
age, the end presents a flat surface. Thenceforward its ten- 
dency is to grow more rapidly and coarser and it never again 
becomes sharp pointed. To secure the maximum fineness, 
beauty and gloss, the hair shouM never be cut. If allowed to 



PEBSONAL EXPERIENCES. 235 

grow uncut it will attain and never exceed a certain length 
and will be as fine and glossy as it possibly can be. A 
young kinsman whose mother secured him immunity from 
shears was saved thereby much time, temper, trouble and 
expense during his life. The hirsute appendages of his 
head and face were fine, soft and shining and never exceeded 
a certain length. These facts suggest that the hair of females 
never should be cut except for sanitary reasons. 

Neither should men be shaven and shorn, except for the 
same reasons or as a matter of convenience. Both women 
and men might be excused from coveting the lustre of the 
Indian's sable locks. Individuals whose hair when shortened 
exhibits the ' ' cow-lick " so-called, may avoid it by permitting 
the hair to grow to a reasonable length. It would seem 
that the ludicrousness of its appearance, especially on adults, 
would prompt its prevention by any reasonable means. 

I could also, when startled by an unusual sound, 
feel a motion in the left ear. This sensitiveness I 
likewise cultivated, and could, at any time, by the 
exercise of the will', so move the ear as to make its 
motion visible to others. This I could not do with 
the right-side ear. 

The sense of vision was also unusually strong. 
I could recognize objects at a greater distance than 
could other persons of equal health and strength. 
To this strong visual power was due the fact that 
I could retain, for an unusual period — three 
to five minutes — the ocular spectrum left in the 
eyes when they are closed, after looking steadily 
for a moment at a distinctly colored object. This 
spectrum is, at first view, invariably of the same 
color as the object seen, but gradually assumes its 
complementary color. This spectral image is 



236 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. 

always erect and much larger than any image re- 
vealed by the opthalmoscope. 

The thrills noted above were often experienced, 
and generally with marked, sometimes with intense, 
effect. The grand view from a mountain top ; the 
purple tops of the mountains themselves as seen 
against the azure sky ; the ocean, tempest-tossed, 
and its mighty waves breaking upon the cliffs and 
hissing around the huge boulders of a rock-bound 
shore ; an angry storm with the roaring wind sway- 
ing, breaking and uprooting the forest trees ; or a 
heavy thunder-storm with the lightning's sharp 
flash and crash and the rolling thunder's huge 
waves of sound dying away in the distance ; the 
first view of peerless Niagara on a peerless autumn 
day, with its iris-bar'd arms lifted heavenward and 
bathed in sunshine, while its solemn monotone 
sounded a perpetual anthem to its Creator's praise ; 
scenes like these excited the utmost tension of the 
nerves and every hirsute filament stood erect like 
a tiny wire, which it was painful forcibly to 
repress. 

In contrast with these, the contemplation of the 
stars which seem both to send to the spirit messages 
of love and to beckon it upward, especially the 
study of that star-paved galaxy that spans the 
sunless dome ; the calm and gently pulsing ocean 
laving and dallying with the silver sand upon its 
sunny beach and tossing back to the sun his 
brilliant rays ; a gorgeous sunset ; the fully arched 



PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. 237 

covenant bow ; the peaceful valley with its wind- 
ing stream bordered with wild flowers, vocal with 
the hum of bees, and smiling in the light and 
warmth of a June-lit day ; the blossom and the 
breath of flowers ; the song of birds ; a beautiful 
painting or any surpassingly beautiful work of art ; 
the autumn woods transfigured and glorified with 
color ; an exquisite bit of sculptured marble that 
almost speaks and breathes ; and more especially the 
perfect face and form of a beautiful woman beauti- 
fully adorned ; all these thrilled the heart with 
gladness and filled the eyes with tears. However 
weak or otherwise it may be, I have to confess 
that every " thing of beauty," the expression of 
every inspiring thought, every sublime aspiration, 
every noble sentiment commands the homage, the 
sacrifice of tears. 

Thunder-storms possessed a peculiar fascination 
for me in my boyhood. It was a pervasive sat- 
isfaction and pleasure after the first heavy rain- 
fall was over, particularly in the evening, to go 
out and climb a tree or the highest fence to 
watch the electric explosions and listen to the 
reverberating thunder. There was a leap of 
ecstasy at each discharge and in watching the 
electric ribbon that marked its eccentric course 
from the zenith to the horizon. 

Another evening fascination was to lie on a 
flat rock near a huge oak tree, on the hillside 
shore of a beautiful lake, and gaze up at the stars. 



238 PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. 

" A boy's will is the wind's will, and a boy's 
thoughts are long, long thoughts." It was an un- 
wearying delight to look up at the calm, patient, 
persistent, inscrutable stars, to dream dreams con- 
cerning them, and to wonder what they were and 
what was the lesson they could teach. 

A notable phenomenon? that attended the copious 
thunder-showers of the spring and early summer 
was the invigorating effect of breathing the purified 
air after they were over, air that w^as laden with 
ozone and charged with sulphur. The odor of the 
latter was very decided, and frequently its presence 
was manifested by the appearance of a pale yellow 
film on the surface of the rain-water gathered in 
the depressions by the road-sides and in the fields. 
This film was so tangible that we could, with a 
pointed stick for a pencil, scratch our names in it, 
names literally " writ in water." The sulphur may 
have been supplied in part from a number of blast 
furnaces which were almost constantly in oper- 
ation in the iron region where these observations 
were made. I trust the reader's indulgence will 
be extended to this egotistic episode which is de- 
signed to elucidate, in part, the psychic portion of 
our subject. 



HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 239 



XXXIII. 

Hypnotism ; Place-Sense of Animals ; Birds and 
Insects ; Homing Pigeons ; Bees ; Aphides ; 
Ants ; Keenness of Vision ; Eagle ; Hawk. 

It is demonstrated that all the senses are inten- 
sified by hypnotism. In those who are subjected 
to it, the understanding is strengthened, the power 
of comprehension is enlarged, and that of concep- 
tion is more acute. They seem to acquire a spir- 
itual prescience that at once reveals to them new 
objects of cognizance and a wider field of knowl- 
edge. Meanwhile, the power of the will over the 
muscles of the body is suspended as in trances, 
dreams and visions. But trances, dreams and vis- 
ions seem to be only varieties or modifications of 
hypnotism. It must be borne in mind, that hyp- 
notism is the effect induced by natural magnetism 
in the mind, muscles and nerves of sentient beings. 
In its eclectic, transcendental character it is, as we 
have before noted, spiritual, and may be spiritually 
induced. The action of what is called animal 
magnetism is manifested in all animal life and, in 



240 HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 

a little different manner, in all other forms of 
life. 

We have heretofore pointed out the acuteness 
of vision and of the sense of smell in birds and 
dogs. But there is another sense or instinct that 
is more remarkable than either of these. It is the 
faculty which enables animals, birds and insects to 
move from place to place in the most direct route 
that will enable them to reach the object they 
seek. The males and females of different species 
of animals living many miles apart, find each other 
at will, however many angles and turns there may 
be in the road they may be obliged to follow. If 
the female desires to see a male, and there are sev- 
eral males living in the neighborhood, but so far 
apart that she cannot hear the call of either, she 
will always seek and find the nearest one. 

An intelligent shepherd dog, a companion of 
our youth, liked much in our drives to follow the 
horses. His master drove one of them to a city 
thirty-two miles distant. Before starting in the 
morning, the dog was confined in the coach-house, 
to remain there until afternoon. He was released 
about two o'clock, at once took the horse's track, 
and at six o'clock was with him in the city stable. 
Two-thirds of the distance he traveled was over a 
much-used turnpike with many other roads cross- 
ing it, and there must have been many equine 
tracks from which he was to choose. 

There is a well-authenticated account of a dog 



HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 241 

whose master lived on the Ohio River near Mari- 
etta, and during the season boated coal to New 
Orleans. On one trip he took with him a common 
shepherd dog, intending to dispose of him. Hav- 
ing sold his boat and cargo, he returned home by- 
steamer, leaving the dog in New Orleans. Some 
four weeks after, the dog appeared at his master's 
house, foot-sore, lean, mud-stained and almost 
famished, after a journey of over 800 miles. Hav- 
ing no track to follow, instinct was his only guide. 
The homing flight of pigeons and messenger 
doves, the migratory habits of birds, and the long 
distances from their nests at which they seek their 
food, are well known. 

But this faculty is still more remarkably exhib- 
ited by insects, and most remarkably by the honey- 
bee. Of all communities of organic life the bees, 
are the most wonderful, interesting and edifying 
to contemplate. Their origin, life, habits, govern- 
ment, sense and sensibility and their acute and 
accurate selective faculty are a marvellous study. 
The community is composed of three different 
classes, distinctly differentiated from each other 
in size, physical structure and functions. There 
are the drones (males), the largest and least active 
in motion ; then the workers, supposed to be un- 
developed females, the smallest in size but the 
most numerous, most active and efficient, and last 
the queen, longer in body than the others, more 

graceful and dignified in her movements, but suffi- 
16 



242 HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 

ciently active to lead the others when occasion 
requires. 

In each community or swarm there are from 
twelve to fifteen thousand workers besides the 
drones and the queens, and the marvel is that a sin- 
gle queen is the mother of them all. She is also 
their absolute, infallible ruler, and all her subjects 
vie with each other in upholding her authority. 
There are no strikes. The drones are disposed of 
as soon as the social arrangements for the year are 
settled, and any objector or obstructor is despatched 
or exiled without ceremony. Each worker carries 
in a sheath handy for use his sting, his weapon of 
defence of himself and of the colony. The queen 
has the same weapon, but uses it only in self- 
defence. 

At the proper season she deposits from one to 
two thousand eggs a day. And then is manifested 
the marvellous selective faculty, the subtle, infalli- 
ble animal magnetism that enables her to give a 
specific character to three different classes of eggs. 
The first and most numerous is the workers, the 
next the drones, and last the queens. To develop 
the drones from the egg twenty-five days are neces- 
sary, twenty-two for the workers, and sixteen for 
the queens, and there is no apparent difference be- 
tween the eggs that produce the three classes. The 
wonderful vis-vitce of magnetism can alone impart 
this amazing faculty of selection. 

But this faculty is still more surprisingly mani- 



HYPNOTISM. PLACE-SENSE. 243 

fested by the workers. The vision of the bee, 
so far as we can learn, is quite limited ; yet 
they leave the hive and fly away many miles in 
all directions in pursuit of flowers, to gather 
material with which to construct their cells and 
store them with food. These wonderful cells 
are correctly constructed on mathematical princi- 
ples. They are hexagonal in shape, which 
secures the largest amount of storage room with 
the least length of side, and no vacant space be- 
tween. It is also the strongest and safest form 
of cell since all its sides adjoin and support each 
other. 

We know the uniform color of the honey-comb 
in each hive and of the honey with which it is 
filled. But there is a difference in the color of 
the honey gathered from different flowers. There- 
fore each bee, through his faculty of selection, 
works in flowers that yield honey of the same color, 
and after they return to the hive they show their 
artistic faculty by blending the different colored 
honey into one uniform color. They are correct 
paint mixers, for parti-colored cells are never 
found in a hive. 

Each worker has a little sack for holding honey 
and a little basket for pollen and bee-glue. When 
both are filled they rise into the air, and their 
flight to the hive, however distant it may be, is so 
direct that the best definition of a straight line is 
to call it a bee-line. Arriving home the glue and 



244 HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 

pollen are delivered to the architects for the build- 
ing of new cells, while the honey is properly pre- 
pared and placed in cells already provided. 

Now the sovereign ruler of this winged com- 
munity establishes three of them each year, and 
does this from three to five years in succession, 
when old age terminates her career and she is 
gathered to her mothers. She is not merely the 
sovereign of these sixty to seventy-five thousand 
workers with the drones and queens in addition, 
but she is the mother of every one of 
them. Consider the intense vitality, the amaz- 
ing vis-vitce possessed by and stored up in this 
small insect. Can any lapse of time, any change 
of conditions evolute her out of her traits, func- 
tions and characteristics? 

Another remarkable manifestation of the per- 
sistence of this same force, this same animal mag- 
netism, is found in the Aphides, the insect that 
furnishes honey-dew, the favorite food of a cer- 
tain species of ants. They are especially remark- 
able for a peculiar^ of their generative economy 
which consists in first fecundation of the female, 
influencing not only the ova developed immedi- 
ately afterwards, but those of the females resulting 
from that development, even to the tenth gener- 
ation, each of which is successively impregnated 
and continues to produce without intercourse with 
the male. 

The ants, with whom Sir John Lubbock has so 



HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 245 

pleasantly made us familiar, are another remark- 
able family of insects. Like the bees thej^ live in 
colonies of thousands in number. Like the bees too, 
they are divided into three distinct classes, males, 
females, and neuters, the last being the workers. 
Some of them also serve as soldiers, carpenters, 
masons and architects, who plan and build their 
homes. These are the familiar ant-hills with their 
numerous galleries, stairways and chambers built on 
the surface of the ground. Or they may be cavities 
scooped out under large stones or planks or in de- 
cayed, fallen tree trunks. They are phenomen- 
ally strong, courageous, industrious and perse- 
vering, boldly attacking insects and animals 
(mice) much larger than themselves. If one of 
them captures a bug or worm so much larger 
than himself that he can only move it on a 
pavement or other similar clear surface, but not 
through the short grass beside them, he leaves it, 
goes for help, returns with one or more assist- 
ants and the prey is taken home. 

We have seen a little brown ant like those 
so common on side-walks, attack and kill a 
common caterpillar. The ant climbed on to the 
neck of the worm, pushed its mandibles through 
the hair and inserted them in the flesh. The 
worm was at once alarmed and made desperate 
efforts to free himself from his enemy by rolling 
over, curling himself up, and then suddenly 
snapping himself out, by which means he threw 



246 HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 

the ant off and then quickened his movements to 
escape. But the plucky little assailant returned 
again and again to the attack, always seeking the 
same spot on the top of the worm's neck. Final- 
ly the cuticle was perforated, dark, viscous mat- 
ter began to ooze out, and death soon followed. 

The ants are not only carpenters and masons 
but they are likewise dairymen and slave-dealers. 
They have desperate battles, generally lasting two 
days, in which many on both sides are slain. 
The victor enslaves his victims and becomes a 
heartless cannibal. He places his slaves in rows 
like animals in subterranean stables, where they 
are fed with the honey-dew which their captors 
milk and steal from the aphides, above noticed. 
The poor victims, deluded by the sweet flavor of 
this food, acquire an inebriate passion for it and 
gorge themselves until they become puffed up 
into helpless globular masses, when thej^ are 
ruthlessly devoured by their cruel conquerors. 

The ants communicate with each other through 
their antennae as we have witnessed. Passing 
on the plank sidewalk of a quiet street we no- 
ticed a procession of the little brown ants cross- 
ing it diagonally, and stopped to watch their 
movement. Their home had been, apparently, 
under the same walk, nearly a block further on. 
As it had been disturbed by repairs or some 
other cause, they concluded to seek a new home. 
It was this migrating procession that we met. 



HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 247 

It was about ten rods long, three inches wide, and 
there must have been thousands of ants in it, 
marching on in a regular, steady common-time 
movement, 

A number of them had their small white pupa in 
their mouths. With a little sliver of wood we 
captured one of these pupa, upsetting the ant to do 
so. On recovering herself she at once began a search 
for the pupa. After running anxiously about for 
some time and not finding it, she stopped several 
members of the procession who carried no pupa, 
touched their antennae with her own and seemed 
thus to have informed them of her trouble, for they 
directly joined her in a vigorous search for the lost 
treasure. Continuing the search until, satisfied 
that it was fruitless, they reluctantly fell again in- 
to the procession. We followed it along by the side 
of the walk until it reached a point about twelve 
inches from an oak post of good size that was de- 
cayed and hollowed out at the centre. This, it 
seemed, was to serve for their winter quarters. 

Before leaving the birds we wish especially to 
note the power of vision possessed by the eagle and 
the hawk. The former after reaching his point 
look-out descries the small prey he is seeking when 
several miles distant from it. The hawk from his 
lofty elevation of two or three thousand feet, 
sees below the surface of the running water the 
small fish he wishes to capture. If a black spot 
the size of this fish were painted on a white 



248 HYPNOTISM, PLACE-SENSE. 

board and placed at the same distance from a per- 
son with the strongest eyes and most perfect vision 
he could not see it at all. If we had a refract- 
ing telescope whose powers were equal to those of 
the eagle's eyes, we might be able to distinguish the 
ships sailing on the seas of Mars if there are any. 
Perhaps Sir David Brewster's suggestion, that 
before the end of the century the world will 
possess a reflecting telescope with a lens twenty 
feet in diameter, may be realized. If a number of 
eagle's and hawk's eyes could be obtained and 
subjected to the most thorough examination that 
can be made with the improved instruments of 
the present day, the attainment of this end 
might be sooner realized. 



SPIDEBS. 249 



XXXIV. 

Spiders ; Their Webs ; Ballooning ; Securing Prey ; 
Humble-bee and Spider in Death-struggle. 

The spider is not a very attractive or desir- 
able companion and neighbor ; on the contrary, 
he seems nearly as repulsive as the viper 
tribe, and every man's, and especially every 
woman's, hand — and broom — are against him. Still, 
as a form of organic life, he is a very interesting 
studjr. Like the ant, he is intelligent, ingenious, 
courageous and persevering. As spinners and 
weavers, their work defies competition. The 
beauty, fineness, evenness and smoothness of their 
threads are admirable, and the delicacy, thinness, 
and strength of their silken fabrics are wonderful. 
They are also architects and artists, and some of 
them are skilful geometricians, as is shown by 
their fanciful webs. 

The class Tegenaria, who make their parlors near 
the earth's surface in piles of stone or wood, spread 
around the parlor door a beautiful and attractive 
silken carpet which heedless callers find to be most 
delusively and fatally adhesive. Those callers who 



250 SPIDERS. 

enter these parlors must leave hope behind. But 
the many and sharp-eyed host has sometimes a 
caller that he fails to secure. 

Having, when a boy, been stung by humble-bees 
and bitten by a spider we were, very naturally, 
disposed to improve every opportunity to promote 
the infelicity of both. Fate or chance once gave 
us an opportunity to bring the two into deadly 
conflict. Near a famous well from which we often 
sought a cooling drink was a small pile of cobble- 
stones. A large, fierce black spider made his 
spacious parlor and spread the fatal carpet in front 
near the lower edge of the pile. Near it was a 
stalk of catnip in blossom. Going to the well for 
a drink we saw a lusty humble-bee working on the 
blossoms. With the crown of our straw-hat we 
gave him a blow that sent him directly on to the 
silken carpet. He landed on his back with his 
head towards the parlor door. Instantly the spider 
darted out and with lightning speed circled round 
the bee a dozen times or more to bind him fast with 
his web. When he thought he had the struggling 
bee sufficiently bound he sprang upon him and 
seized him by the throat. As they were of the 
same length the bee curved up his " business end " 
and thrust his sting into the spider's other end. 
The latter, with greater speed than he had darted 
out of his parlor, darted back again. So strong- 
were the cords and so skilfully wound that it took 
the vigorous bee some minutes to disentangle him- 



SPIDERS. 251 

self and free his wings so that he could use them. 
He was evidently quite demoralized, for his flight, 
when he departed, was not normally vigorous. If 
the spider had seized him in such a way as to have 
prevented the bee from stinging him he would 
have been the victor. 

We made repeated attempts afterwards, by 
throwing insects on to the carpet and into the 
parlor door to induce the occupant to come out. 
But he never responded. The winds and storms 
broke the outside fastenings of the carpet, and the 
establishment fell into decay. 

It is well known that some spiders go balloon- 
ing and kiting, spinning, for that purpose, a dome- 
like web and a platform web which may serve as a 
raft or a sail, with which they make excursions in 
the air, aided by the wind, and many floating fila- 
ments of their silken web. 

In his charming work on " American Spiders " 
Vol. II., Rev. Mr. McCook has fully elucidated the 
subject of spider ballooning, and described the 
different methods by which it is accomplished. 
Not the least interesting portion of his narrative is 
the description of the manner in which the young 
spiders in their gossamer ships are distributed in 
immense numbers over the continents and princi- 
pal islands of the earth by the trade-winds. Those 
that are content with less ambitious flights throw 
out their silver filaments in number and length 
sufficient to overcome their gravity and sail away 



252 SPIDERS. 

in search of a new home. When they wish to 
alight they have no valves to open, but simply and 
literally take in their silken sails and quietly settle 
to the earth. 

We were once fortunate enough to witness one 
of these Sittings of a single spider. While trout- 
fishing down a mountain stream through the 
woods, we found as we came out into the open that 
the sun was too pervasive and therefore left the 
brook where a wood road crossed it and continued 
on, gradually rising, between a belt of tall trees 
and an open pasture. While walking next to the 
pasture fence and looking to the right we saw, 
against the bright sunlight, a large black wood- 
spicier floating in the air at an elevation of about 
twenty-five feet, with a thread of her web trailing 
behind like the tail of a kite and glistening in the 
sun. 

There was a continuous, gentle breeze which did 
not seem to be sufficiently strong to overcome her 
gravity. Those who are familiar with New Eng- 
land woods will remember this species of spider : 
jet black, keen eyes, fierce, repulsive looking and 
very active in her motions. Her body is covered 
with long coarse hair and her legs with still 
coarser, short hair standing nearly at right angles 
with their length, and presenting a flat appearance 
like feathers. Possibly the spider had ascended a 
tall tree standing in the edge of the wood, gone to 
the outer edge of one of the upper limbs, attached 



SPIDERS. 253 

her web to the extreme point, and then swung her- 
self off for a voyage. If her legs were extended 
side by side and the short, flat-looking hairs inter- 
laced in such a way as to act like feathers and 
form an aerial raft she would have had sufficient 
floating capacity. She floated out of sight with- 
out any apparent descent in her course. 



254 VARIOUS FORMS OF LIFE. 



XXXV. 

Lepidoptera ; Ova; Larvce ; Cocoon; Chry solid; 
Imago; Butterfly ; The Cicada; Shell-Life. 

AisroTHEB. remarkable example of the persistence 
of magnetic vis-vitce, most interesting in form, con- 
dition and effect, is presented by the Lepidoptera. 
The two extremes of this form of life are most 
marvellous and most intensely interesting, not only 
in themselves as to what they are, but also as to 
what they may teach. Let us briefly trace the 
history of a butterfly. 

In the temperate zones from April to November, 
the eggs are attached to the under-side of the leaves 
of trees, or other forms of vegetable life, to which 
they are made fast by a glutinous film that pre- 
vents their removal by wind or rain. In the genial 
warmth of the season development begins at once. 
With voracious appetites the young grubs devour 
the tender vegetable fibre, and grow so rapidly that 
in from five to twenty daj r s the larva attains its 
full size. These larvae, caterpillars, of different 
sizes and colors, as we see them crawling upon the 
ground or on branches of trees and bushes, are 



VARIOUS FORMS OF LIFE. 255 

among the lowest and most repulsive creatures 
that live, and with all persons, except naturalists, 
they are nearly as unpopular as the viper class. 
To casual observers their sense and sensibility seem 
to be exceedingly limited, and they have not a 
single attractive characteristic. At the proper 
time the larva seeks, instinctively, a place where 
it may secrete itself for its grand transformation. 
And now it begins to manifest its good sense, its 
reasoning capacity. It desires to protect itself 
against discovery and attack from its natural ene- 
mies and also from the alternations of the weather. 
Having selected the spot for its temporary burial, 
its hibernation, it proceeds to construct its own sar- 
cophagus. In doing this it performs the work of 
an architect and decorator. 

The first thing to be done is to build the cocoon, 
the outer covering of its hibernating domicile. 
This is cylindrical in form and closed at each end. 
Its substance is similar to that of a bladder, strong 
and impervious to air and moisture, and that hard- 
ens as it dries. The only tools used by the larva 
are its legs, spinning apparatus and a supply of raw 
silk. Having finished the cocoon it next constructs 
its chrysalid, its coffin. This is a more elaborate 
piece of work, ovately cylindrical in shape, but 
largest at the head-end, smooth and polished on its 
exterior surface, which is punctured by orifices 
corresponding to its spiracleSc The interior is 
finished off with exquisitely soft and delicate vel- 



256 VARIOUS FORMS OF LIFE. 

vet. A more delightful hibernating parlor could 
not be conceived. The cocoon is also lined with 
silk velvet, and in due time, when the insect has 
reached its birth-stage, both are broken open and it 
escapes. 

The period of hibernation varies from six to ten 
months, but there are some species in which it lasts 
for two years. This is a most remarkable manifest- 
ation of the persistence of animal life, animal 
magnetism. At the end of the hibernating period 
the imago appears. Wonderful and beautiful is 
the Psyche, the winged soul, that comes forth from 
its sarcophagus, spreads its wings and seeks the 
skies. In all the range of animal life there is 
nothing so amazing as the transfiguration and 
resurrection of the butterfly. Emanating from a 
minute egg^ growing into a repulsive worm with 
senses and sensibilities of the most limited charac- 
ter, not even having lungs, but breathing through 
spiracles in its body, possessing no power of rapid 
motion as it crawls upon the earth, being altogether 
of the earth, earthy. In this condition, with the 
aid of a marvellous instinct, it constructs its won- 
derful tomb, shuts itself up in impenetrable dark- 
ness and lies dormant in the hades of departed 
butterflies from ten to twenty-four months; and 
then opens the door of its living tomb, emerges into 
the light of day, expands its beautiful wings, wings 
which angels might envy if they needed them, wings 
resplendent in most exquisite colors that might have 



VABIOUS FORMS OF LIFE. 257 

been born of the sunshine of Paradise ; it waves 
these and flies away over the earth, drawing new 
life from its atmosphere and nursing on the dewy 
nectar of its flowers, a flying orchid, living on dew 
and air. 

Note — In the museum of Cornell University there is a large 
and fine collection of butterflies. Many of them are exceed- 
ingly beautiful. 

And what is the lesson to be learned from this 
wondrous life ? First, it is an irrefragable proof 
of the resurrection of a body, not indeed from death, 
but from a comatose state near akin to it, the same 
but different, identical but transfigured. Every 
particle of matter that entered into the chrysalid 
came out of it. Every particle that went into it 
was a living particle ; every particle that came out 
of it was also a living particle. There was no stain 
nor lifeless particle left within the velvet chamber. 
Second, it is an equally irrefragable proof of the 
persistence, the constant pervasive energy, the 
vis-viva of the magnetic force in animal life and 
in varying phases of it. It begins with the egg, 
it continues in the larva, it survives the long night 
of years in the chrysalid, and develops into per- 
fect life in the beautiful imago, the perfect but- 
terfly. 

There is no friction, no impact, no induction, no 

possible method of developing electric action in 

this system. It is animal magnetism pure and 

simple. 
17 



258 VARIOUS FORMS OF LIFE. 

But the most persistent living force and the 
most protracted period of hibernation are exhibited 
by the cicada-septemdecim. He buries himself at 
an unknown depth in the ground and only appears 
again on its surface after a lapse of seventeen years. 

Another most interesting form of life is shell 
life, ranging in age and size from the gigantic 
conch down to the families of the infinitesimal 
Limaconidae, Tripteridse, Truncatellas, and Lon- 
ites. As a general rule their cradles are their 
graves, their homes are their tombs. These are 
constructed of pearl, marble, and limestone. The 
architecture of many of them in structure, form, 
color and ornamentation is exquisitely beautiful, 
and admirably adapted to the comfort and safety 
of their occupants. They abound, live and thrive 
on the land and in both salt and fresh water. The 
iridescent decoration of the parlor of the pearl 
is indescribably beautiful, while the exterior orna- 
mentation of many of them is hardly less attractive. 
On the other hand, the houses of the oyster are 
very rough and uninviting. They are the log 
cabins of concological architecture. The taste of 
the occupants however, is unimpeachable. 



INSTINCT; SELECTIVE FACULTY. 259 



/ 



XXXVI. 

Animal Instincts ; Selective Faculty. 

Theee is another remarkable faculty or instinct 
exhibited by some animals scarcely noticed hither- 
to. It is the selective faculty that prompts them 
to refrain from eating poisonous, or, for them, un- 
healthy food, and to do certain things necessary 
for the safety and comfort of their offspring. 

Kine avoid all poisonous plants if they stand iso- 
lated in the field, but they sometimes unconscious- 
ly eat cow-bane — cicuta — which may be concealed 
in a cluster of other nutritious and innocuous 
plants. Cattle ranging in pastures, however hun- 
gry, will not touch the foliage of spotted alder, poi- 
son sumach, poison ivy, nor any other poisonous 
shrubs. Cows in wild pastures with their new- 
born calves when they wish to range for their food 
seek a secluded shade where they compel the calf 
to lie down and make it understand that it must 
not move until the cow return. While feeding 
she keeps vigilant watch in the direction of its 
hiding place to see that it is not disturbed. We 
knew a fine cow that dropped her calf in such a 



260 INSTINCT; SELECTIVE FACULTY. 

pasture, hid it, ranged off to feed, was taken ill 
and died. Some days after the calf was found half 
starved, where she had concealed it, and taken 
home. 

The traveller on the western prairies fifty years 
ago would occasionally notice, as we have done, cer- 
tain circular and semicircular paths about ten feet in 
diameter. They were made by mother buffaloes 
caught out on the prairie in bleak, cold wind and 
rainstorms. If the wind was strong and fixed in one 
direction, the mother made the calf lie down on the 
lee side of such slight elevation as she could find. 
Then she walked back and forth in a semicircle 
between the calf and the wind for the double pur- 
pose of breaking the force of the wind and permit- 
ting the warmth from her body to be wafted over 
the calf. Occasionally she laid down with her 
back to the wind and adjusted her body and legs 
in a way to inclose the calf. She kept this position 
until she became chilly, getting rest in the mean- 
time. If the wind was of the character of a whirl- 
wind coming from different quarters, she walked 
in a circle around the calf, alternating as before 
with the lying down. 

It is a difficult thing for the most expert natu- 
ralist to catch a fly in his hand. We have seen a 
garden toad leap sixteen or eighteen inches and 
catch one from a board fence. But we have not 
succeeded, after repeated trials, in inducing a toad 
to devour a potato beetle or a squash bug. 



INSTINCT; SELECTIVE FACULTY. 261 

People can learn much out-of-doors if they only 
see what they look at and endeavor to understand 
its significance, its function. During a three weeks 
stay at the Chicago Fair, according to our observa- 
tion, not one person in 10,000 saiv the beautiful 
decorations in the domes of the entrances to all 
except the matchless recessed arch of the Trans- 
portation Building. In the daily throngs entering 
we did not see a single person looking up at them 
except the few who stopped to see what we were 
gazing at. 



262 VARIOUS FORCES. 



XXXVII. 

Spiritual Force. Mental Force. Magnetic Power 
Grreater in Small than in Large Magnets. 

There' is another remarkable and subtle force 
to which we have slightly alluded in treating of 
persons designated as magnetic, which varies ma- 
terially from the descriptive detail of the action of 
that force. It is a spiritual, mental force. This 
different manifestation of force is best summarized 
by St. Paul : " Now there are diversities of gifts 
but the same spirit.* * * For to one is given by 
the spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the 
word of knowledge by the same spirit ; to another 
faith by the same spirit ; to another the gift of 
healing by the same spirit ; to another the working 
of miracles ; to another prophecy ; to another dis- 
covering of spirits; to another divers kinds of 
tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues : 
But all these worketh that one and the self-same 
spirit, dividing to every man as he will."* 

All experience confirms this diversity of gifts 
and demonstrates that no one individual possesses 

I. Corinthians, chap. 12, v. 4 et seq. 



VARIOUS FORCES. 263 

them all, though some may possess more than 
others. All persons are differentiated from each 
other by difference of gifts. There are, so to speak, 
many similars, no identicals. Some are mathema- 
ticians, some philosophers, some poets, some musi- 
cians, some painters, some sculptors, some archi- 
tects, some inventors, and some with no power of 
mental concentration in any direction. 

These differences are shown in divers ways in 
the ordinary affairs of life. Some men are genial, 
generous, active, willing to live and let live. They 
seem to be favorites of fortune, and everything they 
touch turns to gold. Others, with the same equip- 
ment as to age, strength, ability and willingness to 
work, may yet delve a lifetime and barely live. 
Some have great executive ability who, with few ad- 
ventitious aids, but with indomitable courage and 
resolution successfully accomplish a vast amount of 
work, both mental and physical. Others with equal 
mental capacity have no executive ability, are in- 
firm of purpose, sporadic, miscellaneous, and, al- 
though fairly industrious, accomplish but little. 

Notice half-a-dozen well-grown boys sitting side 
by side and fishing from the flume in a dam or 
from the bank of a stream. One or two are more 
or less successful, at short intervals catching a fish. 
The others do not succeed. They drop their lines 
as near as possible to those of the fortunates ; they 
exchange tackle with them. All in vain, they 
catch no fish. These unfortunates, when they " go 



264 VABIOUS FORCES. 

a-fishing " do so with the hope that they may suc- 
ceed ; rather doubtful, but they will try. 

The fortunates go, not only with the hope, but 
with the determination, to catch fish. They are 
in earnest. They add to their hope faith, and so 
an effluence of trust and confidence pervades their 
work : and their faith and hope are justified by their 
work, the fish are caught. We often hear it re- 
marked that people fail in this or that undertaking 
because they are only " half-hearted " in their work, 
they put no energy, resolution into it. This is true, 
and it is only another way of saying that they are 
weak in magnetic power, which is will-power. 

In all forms of life the life-force, the animal mag- 
netism, is a dyad and life is perpetuated by a force 
that has two poles. In dioecious forms procrea- 
tion is effected by copulation of the sexes ; in 
monoecious forms the two poles are adjacent as in 
the minute, almost infinitesimal atoms of the 
lodestone. 

Reproduction commences in the acephala — oys- 
ters — long before full growth is obtained. The cyc- 
las — sphserium — reproduces when so immature as to 
possess hardly any of the external characters of the 
species ; and oysters, although they do not attain 
full growth under three or four years, yet spawn 
when they are four months old. So prolific are 
they that the ova of a single oyster have been esti- 
mated as high as ten millions in number. 

The almost infinite variety in the forms of life 



VARIOUS FORCES. 265 

is as astonishing as its wonderful persistence, and 
the infinite divisibility of matter is paralleled by 
the infinite divisibility of the vis-vitce. Consider- 
ing the exhibition of magnetic power in all forms 
of animal life, it is interesting to note the fact that 
small magnets are much stronger in proportion to 
their size than larger ones, and that the pressure is 
greater on the surface of small planets than on 
those of greater ones in proportion to their mass.* 
If the magnetic power of the whale were propor- 
tionally larger than that of the honey-bee he might 
carry ships on his back, and if the magnetic power 
of the elephant were proportionally greater than 
that of the little brown ant, he might pull up trees 
to get his lunch instead of breaking off their 
branches. 

* Sir Isaac Newton's 18th Query. 



266 FORCE AND MATTEB. 



XXXVIII. 

Force and Matter. — Some Suggestions Concerning 
their Indestructibility, and Variety of Forms. 

We have already referred to the extraordinary 
power exhibited in the physical mechanism of man 
and other animals when under cataleptic, hypnotic 
and other abnormal influences and especially noted 
the fact that the power, the force thus developed 
is brain power, or force, will force. " An arm, the 
muscles of which are lamed, is incapable of doing 
any work ; the moving force of the muscles must 
be at work in it and these must obey the nerves 
which bring to them orders from the brain. That 
member is then capable of the greatest variety of 
motions; it can compel the most varied instru- 
ments to execute the most diverse tasks." * The 
fact, the existence, the necessity of Force is a 
grand, fundamental truth underlying all the phe- 
nomena of life and nature. We can make no 
progress in any department of natural science 
without the aid of some kind of force. 

" Force and matter," says Mayer, "are indestrtic- 

* Helmholtz, Pop. Sci. Lect., p. 321. 



FORCE AND MATTER. 267 

tible objects. Force is something which is ex- 
pended in producing motion. Two classes of causes 
occur in nature, which so far as experience goes, 
never pass one into another. The first class con- 
sists of such causes as possess the properties of 
weight and impenetrability : the other class is 
made up of causes which are wanting in the prop- 
erties just mentioned " which are called also im- 
ponderables." 

" Nature," says Helmholtz, " as a whole pos- 
sesses a store of force which cannot in any way be 
increased or diminished. * * * Therefore the 
quantity of force in nature is just as eternal and 
unalterable as the quantity of matter. According 
to this we can divide the total force-store of the 
universe into two parts, one of which is heat and 
must continue as such ; the other to which a por- 
tion of the heat of the warmer bodies and the total 
supply of chemical, electrical and magnetical forces 
belong, is capable of the most varied changes of 
form and constitutes the whole wealth of change 
which takes place in nature." * 

" No force," says Grove, f " can be, strictly 
speaking, initial, as there must be some anterior 
force which produced it. We cannot create force 
or motion any more than we can create matter. 
Can we, indeed, suggest a proposition definitely 
conceivable by the mind, of force without ante- 

* Helmholtz, Pop. Sci. Lee, pp. 171-2. 
t Correlation of Phys. Forces, pp. 195-6. 



268 FORCE AND MATTER. 

cedent force ? "I cannot without calling for the 
interposition of created power. * * * The impos- 
sibility, humanly speaking, of creating or annihi- 
lating matter has long been admitted. The reasons 
for the admission of a similar doctrine as to force 
appear to be equally strong." 

" With regard to matter there are many causes 
in which we never (can) practically prove the 
cessation of its existence, yet we do not the less 
believe in it ; who, for instance, can trace so as to 
reweigh the particles of iron worn off from a car- 
riage wheel ? or re-combine the particles of wax 
dissipated and chemically changed in the burning 
of a candle ? " 

" Considering the continued activity of the sun 
through countless centuries we may assume, with 
mathematical certainty, the existence of some com- 
pensating influence to make good its enormous 
loss. By a law which is universally true, waste 
and want go hand in hand. Laplace demonstrated 
that the length of the day remained constant for 
2,500 years." * 

From Geology we learn that the temperature of 
the earth has remained practically the same for 
hundreds of thousands of years, and hence it 
follows that the same is true of the temperature of 
the sun. Hence again it follows that some cause 
of the constant supply of the sun's heat other than 
that of the contraction of its mass must be sought, 

* Mayer, Cel. Dyn., pp. 265, 326. 



FORCE AND MATTER. 269 

since there is no evidence of the diminution of its 
diameter. It is demonstrated that but a small por- 
tion of the heat emanating from the sun is dis- 
tributed to the planets in the solar system. Hence 
arises the " enormous loss " to which Mayer refers 
as having been sustained by it "through countless 
centuries." 

Where shall we seek the " compensating influ- 
ence to make good this enormous loss" and so 
preserve the equilibrium of the solar system ? By 
our hypothesis, as before noted, an inexhaustible 
supply of fuel is furnished from the outer stellar 
space, not only for our sun but for all the suns in 
the omniverse. This supply is ample, immanent, 
constant and is immediately furnished wherever 
" waste," " loss," exhaustion or dissipation of mat- 
ter has occurred, thus maintaining the equilibrium 
of every system. 



270 SUNS AND PLANETS. 



XXXIX. 

Number and Duration of Sims and Planets. 

We have noted the popular idea that the stars 
are infinite in number and duration. Treating of 
the stellar distances Father Secchi * says : " Im- 
mense as this space may seem it does not constitute 
the real limit of the creation, since our most pow- 
erful instruments fail to penetrate even all the 
galactic strata in all their profundity ; hence the 
firmament for us is unfathomable. Nevertheless 
it cannot be called infinite ; nothing composed of 
distinct and separate entities can be called infinite. 
It is said that the world ought to be infinite, in 
order that the work may be worthy of its infinite 
Creator. But if it were infinite and peopled to 
infinity with stars, the celestial vault ought to 
appear, in all its extent, as brilliant as the sun. 
Such is not the fact, and hence we must conclude 
that the stars are not infinite in number." 

This argument is conclusive. 

The conditions of our new Cosmography help 
us to comprehend, to a reasonable extent, what 
* Johnson's Cyclopedia, Art., " Universe." 



SUNS AND PLANETS. 271 

has hitherto been considered incomprehensible. In 
that system all the celestial bodies are formed 
within the hyperboloids and the asymptoid which 
together constitute the omniverse. The divine, 
transcendent light proceeding from the centre of 
the asymptoid, enveloping and passing beyond the 
supernal spheres within it, will gradually diminish 
in intrinsic brightness as it recedes from that centre. 
In like manner, the solar rays, emanating from all 
the suns in all the hyperboloids and reflected from 
all planets, will also gradually fade out as they 
recede from the same centre until finally the whole 
omniverse will be enveloped in the utter darkness 
of outer space, thus presenting the appearance, 
from any point from which it could be visible, of 
a vast globe of mild radiance, flecked, as it were, 
with numerous shadows on a field totally dark. 
And although this omniverse is constantly increas- 
ing in size, we can comprehend its limits so far as 
to understand that it can never fill all space, and 
consequently that it can never contain an infinite 
number of celestial bodies. 

We have shown that the calorific rays of the 
sun after leaving its atmosphere are totally dark, 
and that they do not become luminous until they 
encounter some opaque or resisting medium by 
which they are reflected and refracted. This is 
conclusively proved by the fact that if the opaque 
body be of any considerable magnitude, like a 
planet, the side opposite the sun is totally dark, 



272 SUNS AND PLANETS. 

and if the planet did not revolve on its axis, so 
that every part of its surface could be subjected, 
at short intervals, to the luminous rays, it would 
become intensely cold and perfectly desolate. On 
the contrary, if the hemisphere exposed to the 
direct rays of the sun were so exposed for any con- 
siderable period of time the heat concentrated upon 
it would be so intense that its waters, its moisture, 
would be entirely evaporated and all forms of life 
would perish. The moon is a sublime object-lesson 
that partially illustrates this condition of things. 

There is one supreme truth that we are com- 
pelled to recognize, that namely, that all life is the 
result of a force. Another cardinal fact is that no 
force can be made manifest except through the in- 
strumentality of matter. 

Magnetism requires the lodestone, a metal, the 
air or a fluid or a gas to make its presence known. 
Electricity requires the proper machine, the in- 
ductive cylinders or coils, the amber, the wax, the 
clouds and moisture or a peculiar condition of the 
atmosphere for its development. The mental 
powers, the mind, the thought, the will, can only 
manifest-themselves through brain and muscle and 
nerves. Equally true it is that there can be no 
life without the aid of heat and moisture ; also 
that there can be no life in the extremes of heat 
and cold, in other words, that there are degrees of 
temperature, calorific and frigorific, beyond which 
life cannot be sustained. 



SUNS AND PLANETS. 273 

We know that there can be no vegetable life 
without light. In the mammoth cave of Kentucky 
and in all caves where total and constant darkness 
prevails, there is no least manifestation of vegetable 
or plant life. 

But light is not necessary for the development 
of animal life, as is abundantly demonstrated by 
the blind fish in the mammoth cave and the forms 
of life in the extreme depths of the ocean, as well 
as beneath the surface of the earth. 

Since matter and force are held to be indestruct- 
ible, and since force can be made manifest only 
through matter, it must follow that every organ- 
ism, animal, plant or vegetable, is a mechanical 
structure operated by some force. But these 
organisms are endowed with a force that enables 
them to perpetuate themselves indefinitely, each 
after its kind. Hence that force must be constant, 
pervasive, effective. As we have repeatedly noted, 
there is in nature but one force that invariably and 
perfectly fulfills these conditions, that is, the mag- 
netic force. Hence, if there be no error in our 
facts and no fault in our reasoning, the inexorable 
logic of the concept is that there can be no life 
without magnetism. And especially noticeable is 
the marvellous adaptability of this force to every 
organism, however immense or minute. The 
working of the brain of the little brown ant is as 
perfect and wonderful as that of man or the ele- 
phant, of the humming-bird as that of the condor. 
18 



274 CONCLUSION. 



XL. 

Conclusion. 

With the exception of some experiments 
designed to demonstrate the correctness of some 
of our most important propositions, but which we 
have not been able to secure the facilities for per- 
forming, our task is finished. Probably no student 
in astronomy or physics ever laid down his text- 
books without feeling that some of the most im- 
portant conclusions arrived at were not conclusive, 
that there was a hiatus, a something wanting that 
ought to be attained in order that our reason 
should be satisfied. He feels that he is very near 
the grand goal t)f truth, but has not quite reached 
it; that, Moses like, he has had a charming view of 
the fair fields of the celestial Canaan, but still has 
not been permitted to wander through them nor 
to taste their grapes nor drink their wine. 

All the problems connected with our own solar 
system are so thoroughly elucidated that when we 
have mastered them we commence our explora- 
tions in the boundless areas of space with a cheer- 
ful hope and strong faith that the sublimest results 
will be soon attained. 



CONCLUSfON. 275 

We get into the Milky Way. It is an enchant- 
ing way to follow. New beauties and glories, 
aspects more and more sublime, are revealed at 
every step. But it returns into itself and we end 
where we began. We find that our stellar system 
is but a small part of this illuminated way, and 
that its primary — the sun — is only a brilliant point 
lost in a galaxy of other points far larger and more 
brilliant. 

Vast as is the extent of this galaxy, yet how 
small a portion of the firmament does it fill ! Con- 
cerning the Galactic Circle Sir John Herschel 1 
writes : " It is to sidereal what the invariable eclip- 
tic is to planetary astronomy — a plane of ultimate 
reference, the ground plan of the sidereal system." 
It may be compared to the cross-section of an im- 
mense cylinder, populated with stars, in some 
parts so densely that the highest telescopic power 
of vision does not enable us to sound their utmost 
depths ; in other parts so sparsely that we look 
through them into " coal sac's " of impenetrable 
darkness. 

Looking north and south, so to speak, from the 
centre of this cylinder, we observe numerous groups 
of stellar matter twinkling and moving apparently 
in all directions, direct and retrograde, angular and 
oblique, with little or no system or order, like 
swarms of insects in a summer sky. 

From a careful review of the various facts and 

1 Outlines of Astronomy, p. 450. 



276 CONCLUSION. 

conclusions which we have presented it seems cer- 
tain that the Galaxy is the grandest feature, the 
sublimest outgrowth of the stellar geography, the 
celestial cosmography; that it forms a zone or 
group of stellar systems which occupies one of the 
hyperboloids ; the most perfect and the most brill- 
iant of these systems being nearest to the hyper- 
boloidal centre, while those which are less perfect, 
less complete, lie further from that centre; the 
nebulae and nubuculse lying still more remote, 
being the last and most minute forms of matter 
which occupy the border-land of the hyperboloidal 
space. The planets that are nearest their prima- 
ries are the oldest, and the north or positive pole of 
each stellar system points toward the grand, com- 
mon centre of them all. 

The centres and motions of individual solar sys- 
tems are well understood, but all effort to establish 
a common centre for all stellar systems has, thus far, 
failed. As the reader will have observed, our 
principal object has been to establish that centre 
and to show how all possible stellar systems with 
all possible forces and motions are inexorably con- 
nected with it. 

In developing our hypothesis we have, with an 
iteration and reiteration that may seem wearisome 
but that we have deemed essential, set forth, special- 
ized and emphasized the properties and character- 
istics of one particular force, namely, magnetism. 
And in order to demonstrate more fully its mani- 



CONCLUSION. 277 

fold virtues, offices and functions, we have ranged 
into the department of psychology. If the nature 
of this force in its normal and transcendental func- 
tions as herein unfolded and interpreted, shall, by 
the use of more perfect instruments and further 
observation be proved and accepted as true, then 
we have a reasonable solution of all psychological 
and physical problems. 

If it be asked why we have selected the asymp- 
toid, the hyperboloids and the hyperbola for the 
outlines of our celestial geography and the forms 
of space in which all matter can exist and all 
the natural and certain supernatural forces can 
be manifested, the reply is, because they are best 
adapted to accomplish the end proposed and that 
they possess peculiar properties and characteristics 
that are possible in no other forms. 

And while it is true that innumerable hyper- 
bolas can be cut from cones whose sides make any 
angle at their vertices from zero to 90°, yet it is 
also true that the hyperbola cut from what we 
have called a right angle cone is the only one that 
can fulfil the conditions of our hypothesis. 

The hyperboloid that revolves about its trans- 
verse axis generates a hyperboloid of two nappes. 
These are surfaces of double curvature ; they are 
conjugate, symmetrical, homogeneous, homologous 
and their equations are identical. If two conjugate 
hyperbolas are revolved about either axis they will 
generate a pair of conjugate hyperboloids of revo- 



278 CONCLUSION. 

lution and their common asymptotes will generate 
a cone which separates the two. There are no 
other curves known that can possibly fulfil these 
conditions. How admirably and perfectly they are 
fitted for the construction of our new cosmography 
must be at once apparent. There are no hidden 
angles or corners connected with them. Perfectly, 
systematically, harmoniously they occupy all space. 
All forms of matter, all forms of energy, all pro- 
cesses of life and growth, all processes of decay and 
death, exist and are manifested within them. 

Finally we wish further to emphasize the fact 
that the supreme origin, centre, source, germ and 
root of the new S} T stem is Deity. All spirit, power, 
energy, force ; all life, matter, motion are the 
direct outcome of His will, the result of His laws. 
Ample material, ample ways and means are pro- 
vided for the execution of those laws, with endless 
space and time for their perpetual development. 
And thus the grand processes of nature are forever 
carried forward, and thus with ever-increasing 
reason, ever-growing emphasis, the firmament show- 
eth forth the handiwork and the heavens declare 
the glory of God. 

Such is the sj^stem which, with due humility 
but with an abiding faith in its substantial verity, 
is submitted for the consideration of investigators, 
and with some appropriate words from Grove we 
submit it to their criticism : " That the theoretical 
portions of this essay are open to objections I am 



CONCLUSION. 279 

fully conscious. I cannot, however, but think that 
the fair way to test a theory is to compare it with 
other theories, and to see whether, upon the whole, 
the balance of probability is in its favor. Were a 
theory open to no objections it would cease to be a 
theory and become a law ; and were we not to theo- 
rize or to take generalized views of natural phenom- 
ena until those generalizations were sure and un- 
objectionable — in other words w^ere laws — science 
w T ould be lost in a complex mass of unconnected 
observations, which would probably never disen- 
tangle themselves." 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



A. 

Abbott, Mrs., 105 et seq. 

Aerial Music, 217. 

Age of Earth, 158 et seq. 

Age of the Stars, 164 et seq. 

Addison, 171, Note. 

Aqueous Vapor, 150, 76. 

Alpha Centauri, 195. 

Ampere, 26. 

Ammonia, 184. 

Anaxagoras, 58. 

Andrews, 41. 

Angstrom, 55. 

Animal Magnetism, T97 et 

seq., 233 etseq., 239. 
Animals, 239, 259. 
Answered Prayer, 183. 
Ants, 239 et seq., 246. 
Arago, 25. 
Aphides, 239. 
Attributes of God, 64. 
Asymptoid, 173, 178, 181, 

185. 

Aurora, 96. 
Apostles, 227. 

B. 
Bacon, 11, 215. 
Bain, 121, 124. 
Barnard, President, 195, 

Note. 
Beginnings, 64, 72. 
Bancalari, 134. 
Bees, 239, et seq. 
Bernheim, 198. 
Birds, 239 et seq. 
Brain, no et seq., 199, 200, 

208. 
Browne, Sir Thomas, 68. 
Burke, E., 81. 
Butterflies, 254 et seq. 

C. 

Capella, Light of, 196. 
Cat, 80, 234. 
Carbon, 136. 



Center of all Space, 192. 

Celestial Geography, 140 et 
seq., 169. 

Caterpillars, 250. 

Chemical Force, 27, 28, 34, 
198. 

Chrysalid, 254. 

Cocoon, 254. 

Chapman, 130. 

Carnot, 25. 

Cicada, 58. 

Clark, Dr., 65. 

Conductors, 126. 

Coulomb, 73, 82. 

Cook, 136. 

Cosmography, The new, 22*, 
169. 

Color, 28, 78, 89, 35, 139. 

Comets, 54, 145. 

Condor, 82. 

Conarium, 116. 

Charcot, 198. 

Combustion, 152. 

Currents, Afferent and Ef- 
ferent, 126. 

Creation, 61, 62. 

Crookes, 40. 

D. 

Darwin, 29. 
Daniell, 27. 
Davy, Sir H., 49, 89. 
Diamonds, 137. 
Delirium Tremens, 197. 
Devotion, 197. 
Democritus, 58. 
Dewar, 107. 

Diastole and Sistole, 128. 
Dogs, 80, 234. 
Draper, J. W., 49. 
Dreams, 209 et seq. 
Dust of Time, 145. 
Descartes, 119. 

E. 

Eagle, 81, S3, 247. 



INDEX. 



Earth, Age of, 158 et seq. 
Effluence, 66, 68, 74. 
Electricity, 36, 89, 92, 199. 
Electricity of Plants, 203, 

204. 
Emerson, R. W., 68. 
Electro-Chemic Force, 28. 
Epicurus, 59. 
Energy, 86, 91. 
Ether, 153, 187. 
Exhilarating Atmosphere, 

185, 186. 
Evolution, 67, 187. 
Experiments in Magnetism, 

43- 

F. 
.Faraday, 22 et seq., 88, 90, 

91, 134, 139. 
Fibres, in, 115, 126, 80. 
Ferrier, no, 125-6, 131, 207. 
Firefly, 18, 139. 
Flame, 150. 
Flowers, 204. 
Force, Disruptive, 94, 86, 91, 

266. 

G. 
Gases, 132 et seq., 183. 
Gauss, 24. 
Gassiot, 37, 41. 
Ganot, 49.. 
Geisler's Tubes, 36. 
Gravity, 49, 53. 
Geography, Celestial, 140. 
Graining of Wood, 28, 30. 
Grey, 34. 
Grove, 19, 41, 49. 
Glow-worm, 182. 
Gould, 167. 
God, Attributes, 64. 
God, Dwelling Place, 179. 
God, 57, 68, 190, et seq. 
Gland, Pineal, 115 et seq. 
Glashier, 46. 

H. 
Harris, 94. 
Hawks, 81, 93. 
Hansteen, 167, 



Heart, 127 et seq., 247. 

Herschel, Sir Wm., 143, 166. 

Herschel, Sir John, 54. 

Heat, 88, 89, 91. 

Heat, Radiant, 36. 

Hegel, 70, 71. 

Hertz, Experiments, 93, 102. 

Heredity, 202. 

Helmholtz, 18, 26, 63, 88, 

267. 
Hair, 233 et seq. 
Hodge, 92. 
Horse, 83-4, 201. 
Hopkinson, 36, 40, 50. 
Holmes, Dr. O. W., 65, 66. 
Humble-bees, 249. 
Humboldt, 84, 167-8. 
Hydrogen, 76, 135. 
Hyperboloids, 173, 175. 
Hypnotism, 239 et seq. 
Huggins, Dr., 147, 155. 

I. 

Imago, 257. 
Instinct, 72, 259. 
Insects, 72, 239. 

j- 

James, Prof., 125. 
Jesus, 65, 68. 
Joule, 39. 

K. 
Kant, 11, 42, 60, 67. 
Kirschoff, 55. 
Kolrauch, 55. 

L. 
Laughing Gas, 136. 
Laer, 80. 
Lambert, 141. 
Ladd, 121, 126. 
Langley, 139, 148. 
Larvae, 254. 
Leibnitz, 42, 51. 
Lambert, 141. 
Leucippus, 58. 
Light, 92, 97 et seq. 
Lepidoptera, 254 et seq. 
Light without Heat, 182. 



INDEX. 



Lucretius, 59. 
Lockyear, 148. 
Lodge, Dr., 187. 
Love, 201. 
Life Changes, 194. 
Lodestone, 47, 78-9, 150. 
Lotze, 69. 

Lost Articles Returned, 229 
et seq. 

M. 
Magnetism, Compressible, 

36, 38, 90. 
Magnetism, Animal, 105 et 

seq., 197. 
Magnetism, Transcendental, 

57 ? 7o. 
Magnetism, 24, 43, 47, 90, 

198. 
Magnetism, 22 et seq. 
Magnets, Power of Large and 

Small, 262. 
Magnetic Poles, 168. 
Magnetic Men and Women, 

200. 
Matter, 10, 64, 68, 180 et seq. 
Matter, Transcendental, 180 

et seq. 
Marcus Aurelius, 10. 
Martyrs, 201. 
Magnesphere, 193. 
Magellanic Clouds, 155, 156. 
Milky Way, 60, 62, 273. 
Mental Conversation, 215. 
Mental Questions and An- 
swers, 215. 
Mind Reading, 215. 
Maxwell, 17, 91. 
Magendie, 121. 
Mayer, 86, 87. 

Music, Piano and Harp, 218. 
Music, Piano Beating Time, 

215, 
Motion, 19, 74, Rotary, 6^ f 

64. 
Muscular Action, 198 
Miiller, 28. 



N. 
Nappes, 170, 174. 
Natural Forces, 267. 
Nebulas, 141, 143. 
Nebular Conglomeration, 62,. 
Nerves, 124, 126, 128. 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 52, 67,73. 
Newcomb, Prof., 6, 141. 
Nitrogen, 135, 184, 185. 
Nordenskjold, 146. 

O. 
Ocular Spectrum, 235. 
Odors, 81. 
Oersted, 26. 
Omniverse, 193, 271. 
Ova, 254. 
Oxygen, 76, 80, 91, 137. 

P. 
Pain, 128. 

Perpetual Motion, 177, 189. 
Pineal Gland, 116 et seq. 
Physical and Psychic Force, 

198. 
Pigeons, 241. 
Piano, Beating Time, 219. 
Place-sense of Animals, 240 

et seq. 
Plants, 28, 78-9. 
Planchette, 221. 
Planetary Systems, 13. 
Planets and Spheres, Life in 

them, 193. 
Pliicker, 50. 
Poles, Magnetic, 168. 
Personal Experience, 233. 
Prayer Answered, 183. 
Procreation, 201. 
Prenatal Impressions, 202. 
Presentiment, 209. 
Preexperience, 207, 209. 
Primordial Matter, 6s . 

Q. 
Quain, 115, 121. 

R. 

Radiant Heat, 40, 181. 



LVD EX. 



Radiant Light, 184. 
Radiant Matter, 40, 186. 
Raven, 81. 
Ribot, 198. 
Reminiscence, 197. 
Reappearance of Lost Arti- 
cles, 229 et seq. 
Reason, 72, 81. 
Rheotem. 

Ross, Sir James, 167. 
Rotary Motion, 63-4. 

S. 
Sachs, 32. 
Saviour, 68. 
Secchi, Father, 142, 164, 

173, 194, 270. 
Selective Faculty, 259. 
Sinews, 124. 
Sirius, Light of, 195. 
Schelling, 149. 
Solar Light, 55. 
Seeds, 203, 205. 
Soul, 112. 
Southern Hemisphere, 166 

et seq. 
Smell, Sense of, 80, 84, 240. 
Spectrum of Gas Flame, 149 

et seq. 
Spiritual Transformations, 

194. 
Spiritual Force, 262. 
Semi-spiritual Substance, 64. 
Spirit, 71, 187, 223, 262. 
Space, Centre of all, 192. 
Space, Extra Stellar, 7^, 189. 
Spiders, 249, et seq. 
Solar Systems. 188. 
Space, 9, 13, 178. 
Spiritism, 187, Systematic 

Investigation, 215. 
Subtle Force, 229. 
Shell Life, 258. 
Stellar Distances, 270. 
Stellar Systems, 13, 72, 140 

et seq., 189. 



Stars, 60, 156-7, Star-dust, 

173, 176- 
Spheres, Celestial, Life in 

them, 194. 
Swedenborg, 59, 67, 167. 
Sun, 161. 

T. 

Telepathy, 183. 

Tesla, 182. 

Tait, 26. 

Time, 9. 

Thomson, Sir William, 18, 

36. 

Thalen, 55. 
Thrills, 233, 236. 
Thought Transference, 215. 
Tissues, 200. 
Touch, Sense of, 83-4. 
Trance, Speaking and Writ- 
ing, 215. 
Tides, 54. 
Trees, 29. 

U. 

Universal Force, 2>^>- 
Universe, 70, 30, 32. 
Universes, 193. 

V. 
Vacua, 2>^ et seq., 53. 
Vision, 235, 239, 240, 247. 

W. 
W T ater, 138. 
Wartman, 203. 
Winchell, Prof. Alexander, 

63, 145, 147. 
Winslow, 114. 
World Systems, 57, 61, 74. 
W T orld-stufT, 64, 71, 72. 
Wright, T. F., 59. 

Y. 
Young, Dr. Thomas, 49. 

Z. 

Zantedeshi, 134. 



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6 






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